JOURNAL
OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
• « « - • ♦
• >• • ■» ,
Vol. XVI
1922
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Inc
44 EAST TWENTY-THIRD STREET
NEW YORK.
CaOOOlc
o
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENERAL ARTICLES.
PAGS
Antecedent Probabilities. By Miles Menander Dawson, LL.D. 114
Psychical Research in Letters of William James. By Miles Menander
Dawson 243
The Society’s Work, Where and Whither? By Miles Menander Dawson. 683
A Versatile Medium. By E. J. Dingwall, M.A 41
“The Wanderings of a Spiritualist" By E. J. Dingwall 99
More Experiments in “Telekinesis." By E. J. Dingwall 117
“Science” and a Book Test. By E. J. Dingwall 190
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed with the Medium Willy Sch. at
Munich. By E. J. Dingwall 687
The Spirit Hypothesis. By Dr. Gustav Geley 671
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts. By Harriet L. Green. . . 585
A Review of Richet. By Henry Holt, LL.D 655
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity. By James H. Hyslop, LL.D., Ph.D. 59
A Little Lesson in Reporting. By James H. Hyslop 195
Problems and Methods. By James H. Hyslop and Walter F. Prince 402
Science and Psychic Research. By James H. Hyslop 468
Double Photographs. By J. W. Hayward, M.&: 329
Seeing Light. By J. W. Hayward 702
Notes from Periodicals. By George H. Johnson, C.E., Sc.D 502, 553
Mediumship and the Criminal Law. By Blewett Lee 486
The Hypothesis of Survival. By Sir Oliver Lodge 527
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician. By E. Pierre Mallett, M.D.. .232, 315
Notes from Periodicals. By Gardner Murphy, A.M 699
Notes from Periodicals. By Miss L. N 416
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z. By Walter F.
Prince, Ph.D 5
"Spiritualism and the New Psychology.” By Walter F. Prince 72
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. By Walter F.
Prince 164
The Case of Mrs. West By Walter F. Prince 249, 292, 347
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena Near Antigonish.
By Walter F. Prince 422
“A Case of Fraud with the Crewe Circle.” By Walter F. Prince 442
The Survival of Dogmatism. By Walter F. Prince 533
On the Spiritistic Hypothesis. By Professor Charles Richet 522
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. By Mrs. “ Marian W.
Spencer" 556, 604
INCIDENTS.
Some Odd Details of Personal Experience. Reported by H. P. Bel-
lows. M.D 334
Further on " Experiences, Chiefly with Mrs. Chenoweth.” Reported by
“ William Bruce ” 200
Experiences of Miss Clarke. Reported by Helen J. Clarke 457
Miscellaneous Experiences. Reported by Helen J. Clarke 460
An Evidential Case of Spirit Photography ^illustrated). By Allerton S.
Cushman, Ph.D 132
Apparent and Veridical Auditory Experience. Reported by Emily
R. L 213
mIG.9933
PAGE
Coincidental Experiences. Reported by Mrs. A. P. " Niles ” 448
A Rare Type of Collective Visual Hallucination. Reported by Laura E.
Osgood 197
Incident of the Ear-ring. Reported by W. H. Rucker 269
Dream Coinciding with External Facts. Reported by N S 508
Apparent Communication (illustrated). Reported by Mrs. Janet D.
Schenck . 104
Collective Hallucination or Mat-Observation. Reported by Prof. Barrett
Wendell 388
Observations in Apparent Telepathy. Reported by the Rev. Henry W.
Winkley .* 215
Further on “ The Riddle of a Clock.” Reported by Judge 148
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
Second Meeting of the Advisory Scientific Council; Resignation of Mr.
Dingwall; Some of the Principles of Psychical Research 1
Meeting of Advisory Scientific Council; This Number of the Journal... . 57
Experimental Fund 113
“A Certain Condescension"; Mr. Dingwall's Election 161
“ Spiritualism and Lunacy ” ; Exaggerations as to Spiritualists ; Our
Contributors 225
Hodgspn Fellowship for Psychical Research in Harvard University;
Monthly Meetings of the Advisory Scientific Council; Our Con-
tributors 289
Our Contributors 345
A New Department; New Contributor 401
The Fish Analogy Again; Contributors 465
A Noteworthy Discussion 521
An Appeal for Co-operation in the Study of Psychic Phenomena; New
Contributors ._. 653
CONVERSAZIONE.
Some Greek of the Crewe Circle ; Criticism of Messages ; The Thompson-
Gifford Case and “Automatic Memory”; Dissatisfaction with the
Journal 51
Some Odd Particulars in the Hope (Crewe) Psychographs 152
One Evidential Case of Spirit Photography not Proof 339
Psychical Researchers vs. Spiritualists T 513
CORRESPONDENCE.
The Purported Spirit Photograph. By Dr. Allerton S. Cushman 391
The Purported Spirit Photograph. By Sir Oliver Lodge 287
Some Experiments in Telepathy. By Rev. G. H. Smith, D.D 276
Psychometrical Variations. By Nellie M. Smith 285
BOOK REVIEWS.
The Immortality of Animals and the Relation of Man as Guardian. By
E. D. Buckner Ill
Spiritualism; Its Present-Day Meaning. Edited by Huntley Carter 518
The Quimby Manuscripts. Edited by Horatio W. Dresser 224
Activism. By Henry L. Eno 519
The Earthen Vessel. By Pamela Glenconner 288
Spiritualism; Its Ideas and Ideals. By David Gow 224
Can the Dead Communicate with the Living f By I. M. Haldeman, D.D.. 584
The Religion of the Spirit World. By Rev. Prof. G. Henslow 159
Psychical Miscellanea. By J. Arthur Hill 399
Studies in Contemporary Metaphysics. By R. F. Hoemle 462
Treat i de Graphologie Scientifiqur. By Dr. Paul Joire 158
Claude's Book. Edited by Mr9. L. Kelway-Bamber 159
Spiritualism, A Personal Experience and A Warning. By Coulson
Kemahan Ill
So Saith the Spirit. By A King’s Counsel .197
Merveilleux Phinomines de I'au-deld, By Madeleine F. Lacorabe 6S1
Elements of Psychical Phenomena. By Helen C. Lambert 518
Spiritualism : A Popular History from 1847. By Joseph McCabe 157
The Fringe of Immortality. By Mary E. Monteith .143
The Process of Man's Becoming. By ” Quaestor Vitae 583
Through Jewelled Windows. By Frank C. Raynor 58.1
Purpose and Transcendentalism. By H. Stanley Redgrove 56
The Book of Mormon. [By Joseph Smith] 396
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival. By W. Whately Smith 223
The Foundations of Spiritualism. By W. Whately Smith 397
How to Hold Circles for the Development of Medtumship at Home. By
Franklin H. Thomas . . 708
Spiritualism in the Bible. By E. W. and M. H. Wallis 56
The Living Jesus. By Frederick A. Wiggin 463
The Church and Psychical Research. By George E. Wright 583
Problems of Mediumship. By Allessandro Zymonidas 55
BOOKS RECEIVED 344
ERRATA.
Page 8, line 35 : for effected read affected.
Page 10, line 33: for go read goes.
Page 16. line 36: for on read than; read such before as.
Page 17, line 16: omit not before having.
Page 21, line 34: for Nines read Noriega.
Pages 21-22: As explained in Proceedings v. XV. p. 212 n., the utterance about
a fragment of wood from Libby Prison by error is coupled with comments
on the experiment with the “sea-bean." Disregard the section, and go to
the Proceedings for the correct treatment of both incidents.
Page 23, line 9: for medium-sieed one read medium sised ones.
Page 29, line 35: Omit of after give.
Page 30, line 2 : for was read were.
Page 30, line 29: for fails read fail.
Page 30, line 30: for effected read affected.
Page 30, line 36: for lettler read letter.
Page 32, line 40 : for suppose read supposed.
Page 34, line 10: omit in.
Page 35, line 33: for relaxed the other, read relaxed, the other.
Page 37, line 9: for while the other read while from the other.
Page 38, line 14: insert comma after two.
Page 39, line 35: for so read do.
Page 47 , line 10: for unright read upright.
Page 49, line 9: insert to after or.
Page 51, line 35: for hear read bear with.
Page 56, line 41 : omit phenomena after much.
Page 162, lines 4 and 17 : for protographs read photographs.
Page 236, line 15: for Carrol read Carrel.
Page 257, line 17 : for Wood read West.
Page 288, line 45: for Thoman read Thomas.
Page 323, line 1 : for Mae bus read Moebius.
Page 553, line 31 : for Drayton read Thomas.
Page 558, line 2 : for as either read either as.
Page 558, line 17: for nantured read natured.
Page 583, line 3: for Trubner read Trii.bncr.
Page 634, line 32: for slothtfulness read slothfulness.
Page 644: The paragraph beginning "At a sitting” should be just above the
paragraph beginning with " Lamb “ on page 642.
Page 651, tine 3: for gstonome read astronome.
□iqlU/orl tiv Google
Journal of the
American Society
^ fir
Psychical Research
No. 1
I 42.7—
I PACE
• . 1
GENERAL ARTICLES
Psychometric Experiments With Maria Reyes De Z. By Walter
F. Prince 5
0
A Versatile Medium. By Eric J. Dingwall .... 41
Volume XVI. January, 1922
CONTENTS
* * • . ^ — ^ - . ’^5'-’.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:.
CONf'ERSAZIONE:
51
BOOK REVIEJVS:
'\
55
Published Monthly by the American Society for Psychical Research.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 23rd St, Near York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company, 12-26 South Water St. York, Pa.
Changes of Address should be tent to the A. S. P. R., at the York, Pa, Address.
Entered as second-class matter, July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March 8, 1879.
Annual Fee, S5.00. Single Copies, EO cents. Foreign Fee, £1. Is.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Eric J. Dingwall. .Director of the Department of Physical Phenomena
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc., M.B,
F.R.S., Chairman tx-olhcio, Harvard
. University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coovhr, M_A, Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D, Cornell
University Medical College.
Milks M. Dawson, LL.D, New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D, Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D, San Diego, Cal
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M, Smith CoL
Joseph J astro w, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, F.A.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldkmar Kakmpttkrt, B.S, LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LLD, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New Yori^ N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D, LLD.,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, AM, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph!D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John L D. Bristol, Chairman tx-ofHcio. Henry Holt.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D, Lawson Purdy.
Miles M. Dawson.
- -Ciopflle
VOLUME XVI— No. 1
JANUARY. 1922
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Psaa
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT: 1
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Psychometric Experiment* With Mnria
Reyes De Z. By Walter P. Prince S
Peas
A Versatile Medium. By Eric J. Ding*
wall 41
CONVERSAZIONE: . ... n
BOOK REVIEWS : .... $i
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
mats entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer's true name
is withheld, it is preserved on file, and ia that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
Second Meeting of the Advisory Scientific Council.
The Second Meeting of the Council was held at the City Club,
New York, Nov. 27th, beginning at 11 :30 a. m., and continuing,
including dinner, until 4:15 p. m. President McDougall oc-
cupied the chair.
Reports were read by Dr. Prince and Mr. Dingwall, and dis-
cussion of points raised followed.
The Committee on a proposed questionnaire reported through
its chairman, Prof. H. W. Gardiner, an animated discussion fol-
lowed, and the matter was referred, together with the suggestions
which had been made, to the committee, with instructions to re-
port later.
On motion of Dr. Henry Holt, it was decided to have a
monthly meeting of such of the Council as can attend, from
November to April, to listen to reports and papers and discuss
matters of relevant interest. Messrs. Holt and Dawson were
made a committee of arrangements.
On motion by Dr. Dawson, seconded by Dr. Peterson, resolu-
M
2 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
tion of compliment and regret, appropriate to Mr. Dingwall’s
contemplated resignation, were adopted.
On motion by Dr. Prince, seconded by Dr. Dana, a resolu-
tion providing for an Editorial Advisory Committee prevailed,
and the President appointed Messrs. Holt, Peterson and Dawson.
Resignation of Mr. Dingwall.
Mr. E. J. Dingwall, Director of the Department of Physical
Phenomena, has resigned his position and will return to England
on the 14th of January. To the hearty commendation and
sincere regret expressed by the resolution of the Council, the
Editor would add a word. He has come to entertain for Mr.
Dingwall a deepening esteem, and thorough appreciation of his
talents, erudition, and so rare a combination of keen critical
ability and intellectual fairness. He deplores the necessity of los-
ing so competent and congenial a colleague, which perhaps need
not have been, had the Society possessed the means to supply the
laboratory equipment and funds so peculiarly necessary in order
to carry on the investigation of physical phenomena.
Some of the Principles of Psychical Research.
A number of the maxims or principles which actuate the
present direction of research and publication in this Society were
read at the Council meeting, and these seemed to meet ap-
proval. As their publication has been requested, they are printed
below. There is nothing novel about them, for they probably
fairly represent, so far as they go, the spirit of scientific psychical
research the world over. But they may be useful to some
readers, such as G. W. K., whose letter is quoted in Conversa~
zione of this issue.
(1) The attitude of the investigator should be one of outward ex-
treme benevolence toward the person who is the subject of experimenta-
tion, and of extreme inward mental alertness.
(2) He must not allow any previous dogma, partiality or prejudice,
nor any personal relation to the person experimented with, to disturb
his judgment by the weight of a hair, but must consider only the facts
and the logic of the situation in hand. The same principle applies to
editorial work.
Announcement and Comment.
3
(3) No ulterior consideration should influence the psychical re-
searcher as such, such as the support that certain conclusions would give
to religion, or the comfort that they would confer upon the bereaved.
He must stick to the facts, regardless of consequences. Psychical re-
search is not a cause, a cult, nor a propaganda.
(4) Any expression of opinion on the subject matter of psychical re-
search must be individual, and not credited to the Society. The Society,
as such, has no opinions, except that it is desirable to pursue certain
inquiries by certain methods.
(5) The criterion of selection for publication is not the class to
which a case belongs, nor whether its data seem for or against any
theory, but whether light is thrown thereby on the class of phenomena
to which it belongs.
(6) In the language of Dr. Hyslop, “ no better service for a large
class of people can be performed than to serve as a means for the cor-
rection of illusion and the detection of fraud." Besides, pure science
demands the reasoned exclusion of the spurious as well as, and as a
means to, the fixation of the genuine. The rule should be to give little
space to obscure instances of imposition which befog the public mind
in relation to psychical research itself, but where the fraud has filled
the land with its fame, to treat it as a type of a class, and demolish it
with such a variety of proofs and with such wealth of analytical detail
as shall make the paper a source-document useful to researchers every-
where, as was done in the case of Hodgson and Davey’s expositions
of the possibilities of mal-observation and erroneous memory in relation
to slate writing, and also— if I may venture to say so — in the case of
the analysis of the W. M. Keeler spirit photograph swindle, which had
been going on for more than forty years.
(7) It is still the legitimate business of the Society to investigate
and report alleged cases of telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, dows-
ing, supernormal raps, and various other classes of phenomena, as well
as what relates directly to the question of spirit survival.
(8) There is a danger in confining our attention too much to the
spiritistic, that of becoming narrow and biased in judgment And
even from the standpoint of those who are personally convinced of sur-
vival, there might be advantage in giving for a time more attention to
borderland phenomena, which may possibly be related to the matters
which they prefer, and throw light upon these.
(9) We must continue to recognize the distinction which Dr. Hys-
lop always insisted upon, that between the possibly genuine communica-
tion and the evidential one. And there must be no failure to apply the
criteria by which the conditions of evidentiality have hitherto been
determined.
(10) It is of less importance that incidents should be printed as
soon as they happen than it is that a group of the same species of inci-
dent should be printed together, providing that the less as well as the
4 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
more recent were contemporaneously tested, for thus the reader has the
advantage of whatever cumulative effect there may be, without any real
loss of scientific procedure.
( 1 1 ) It is not permissible for a scientific society to be guided in
its selection of material by what the public, or even the rank and file
of its members, like best.
(12) It is worth while occasionally to print psychological studies
relevant to our field of inquiry such as studies of the psychoses of de-
ceiving and being deceived, credulity, and certain biases. Also to
print an occasional study intended to assist those who wish to learn the
scientific methods of experimentation, recording, analyzing, etc., if only
that these may possibly raise one or several competent workers.
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
5
PSYCHOMETRIC EXPERIMENTS WITH MARIA
REYES DE Z.
By Walter Frankun Prince.
My own acquaintance with Dr. Pagenstecher began with a
correspondence which led up to the publication, in the Journal
of August, 1920, of the striking demonstration of the powers of
Senora Maria Reyes de Z. before a medical commission. Our
correspondence continued until the weight of the accumulating
facts induced me to go to Mexico in order to take part in the ex-
periments. I propose to tell the reader just as frankly as if he
were sitting opposite me at my desk what I learned about the
discovery of, and principal experiments with, the remarkable
psychic referred to.
I was in Mexico City several weeks, part of the time in Dr.
Pagenstecher’s house, part the guest of Mr.. T. S. Gore, pro-
prietor of the Hotel Geneve. My sole business was to acquire
facts of every kind relevant to the experiments. I found the
doctor to be a man somewhat over sixty years old, looking ten
years younger, a picture of vigorous manhood. Descended from
a family prolific in scholars and officials for centuries, he is himself
a physician of repute, honored by his colleagues in the capital
city where he has long resided. He was graduated from the
University of Leipzig. A speaker of unusual ability, he has
twice been selected to deliver an oration at a great public occasion,
in the presence of the President and his cabinet.
Dr. Pagenstecher had been a materialist for forty years. He
was not looking for any change in his philosophy, nor did he
have any expectation of strange phenomena when he began to
hypnotize Senora de Z. for therapeutic purposes. She herself
was not aware that she possessed any peculiar powers. But when
she began to manifest knowledge of existing facts supposed to be
out of the reach of her normal senses, the hypnotizer, actuated
by that curiosity, or interest in matters yet obscure, which is the
impelling force of all scientific discovery, began to experiment
deliberately. The results are exhibited in a book by him to issue
in due time, and which I had the honor to edit.
6
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
The letters written to me by Dr. Pagenstecher testify to the
strenuosity with which he endeavored to maintain his strict
materialistic principles, and none of them, up to the time of my
visit to Mexico, distinctly announced relinquishment of these,
but it was read between the lines that he was hard pushed, and
even forced over the boundary line. My arrival found him con-
vinced that, as Huxley admitted, there is something in the uni-
verse transcending matter and force, and he seemed half amused
to see himself in a different camp from that which he had oc-
cupied for forty years, led there by conclusions from the facts
observed which he did not feel that he could logically and honestly
evade. A part of the evidence which produced this effect, and
perhaps the most impelling part, is not contained in his volume.
One division of this evidence was of a seemingly predictive
nature. I take the liberty to refer to utterances relating to my-
self, as examples. Before I arrived, the medium, in a state of
hypnotic trance, gave a description of my peculiar characteristics
as an investigator which, had it been made at the close of the
visit, would have impressed me as showing shrewd observation.
She also stated that I would bring twelve or fourteen objects
for her to psychometrize. Actually fourteen were brought,
though only part were used. And she affirmed that the objects
brought by me would not be of a nature to bring the best results
and that these results, taken alone, would not be fully satisfactory
to me, but that other tests would be more satisfactory, all of
which corresponded with the after facts. The doctor was warned
to heed every suggestion which I made and to allow me to experi-
ment in my own way, else I would be dissatisfied. It is true that
had the doctor, with the most honest purpose of demonstrating
the medium’s work, insisted in carrying out an arranged program,
I would not have been satisfied, no matter what I saw. The same
would of course be true of other investigators in my place, but it
is by no means true of all, and it emphatically docs characterize
me. The reader must understand that the medium’s statements
were recorded before my arrival. The most extraordinary in-
stances of apparent prevision I do not feel at liberty to narrate,
but they will probably be given out later.
When I arrived in Mexico, I was prepared, with malice pro -
pense, to suspect, as a method of procedure, anyone or anything
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
7
having to do with the experiments. Some say that this method
dooms in advance the prospect of getting psychic results. I have
not found this to be the case. So long as the investigator’s out-
ward demeanor puts the subject at ease, inward mental alertness
even to the point of strong suspicion, does not interfere with genu-
ine results. Mediums of a certain class excuse their unwilling-
ness to have me present by reference to injurious “ vibrations,”
but I have noted that even fraudulent results are not stopped by
my vibrations if my identity is unknown to the medium.
To be sure, it was known to me that a man of vigorous in-
tellect and scientific bent had abandoned the convictions of a life-
time for others not generally approved by his own class. It was
evident that great moral courage had been manifested in going be-
fore a medical society at least mostly composed of skeptics and
demanding that there be placed on record his affirmation that “ in
order to hear, to see, to smell, and to taste it is not absolutely
necessary to have ears, eyes, tongue and nose,” and that a com-
mission be appointed to test his statements by personally partici-
pating in experiments with Senora de Z. Such a claim seriously
jeopardized his professional standing and his practice itself, un-
less he could substantiate his claims. It was certain that, in
spite of their general skepticism of such matters, the commission,
including some of the leading physicians of Mexico, did witness
to the success of the strange experiments in which they shared.
It was difficult to see how the experimenter could have any
motive to deceive others or to wish to deceive himself. And yet,
might there not, in spite of all, be facts which had eluded his and
the commission’s vigilance, which the diligent search of one who
had analyzed a multitude of claims might discover, and which
would render a normal explanation of the whole matter?
I found Dr. Pagenstecher a man who had been through a
great inward debate and had come to certain conclusions foreign
and unwelcome to his former thinking, yet interrogating his latest
experiments almost as though they were his first ones. Candid
and modest, he was able calmly to discuss any suggested pos-
sibility. I was at liberty to introduce any feature I wanted into
the experiments, any original or collateral document or article was
instantly forthcoming at my request, and every question cheer-
fully answered. In short, I found a man of sincerity, an able
8 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
thinker and patient investigator of a strong scientific bent, who
welcomed the fresh analysis of the facts by another and intensely
critical mind.
Senora de Z., also, I studied in every possible manner, in the
sittings, in her home, and on social occasions. She proved to be
a woman of good sense and medium education, who takes her
gift in a matter-of-fact fashion, without any appearance of ela-
tion, and though she is interested to know that what she says in
trance tallies with the facts, I did not gain the impression that she
would care for the experiments were it not for gratitude to the
man who, by his professional skill, probably saved her life. She
is not a spiritualist, but on the contrary, owing to her discovery
of fraud during a brief contact with spiritualism when a girl, has
always felt repugnance toward it. Without her knowledge, I ex-
amined her small library and found almost nothing of an occult
nature in it. She is the mother of a large family.
Other psychical researchers will nod sympathetically when
they read that I frequently see the evidential value of promising
claims dissolve or become thin under the acid test of examination.
But in very many particulars I found, both while in Mexico and
since returning to New York, that Dr. Pagenstecher understated
his facts, or in his first exposition of them failed to note eviden-
tial features. The gravest error which he made in preparing the
book was in allowing an artist who was engaged to reproduce the
drawing by Senora de Z. of a scene in her vision, to alter certain
features of the supposed church, the arch and the columns, the
object of the redrawing probably being to get lines which would
photograph well. I sent for the original drawing and found that
the artist’s small alterations had in almost every instance created
minor discrepancies between the vision and the real architecture.
Substituting the original drawing, the discrepancies mostly dis-
appear, and it will appear in the book, as it should in any case do.
I do not remember an instance where an alteration was made in
the manuscript, at my suggestion, in the interest of exactitude, and
evidentiality was effected thereby, that it did not result in en-
hancement of the evidentiality, rather than diminution. This is
really a remarkable statement, but I believe it a true one. There
are still trance statements which have not been tested in detail,
from the difficulty of finding printed data. But such additional
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z. 9
data as I have myself been able to find almost invariably was in
favor of the trance statements, and whatever may be the case in
the future, I do not seem as yet to have been able to dispute any-
thing on the basis of research. Take even the case of the “ Egyp-
tian Princess Mosaic ” which Dr. Pagenstecher is inclined to think
is an ancient Egyptian product. I, on the contrary, doubted this
because I did not have knowledge that the Egyptians did mosaic
work of such minute character, and did not believe that they were
capable of that type of portraiture. Even if I was right, the inter-
est of the incident would not be destroyed, since the medium had
no knowledge of what was represented on the object between her
fingers. We would have, in that case, a “ thought picture ” of a
kind, mysteriously evoked by holding the mosaic, or by some other
process. But a part of my objections proved groundless, as I
found that the ancient Egyptians were capable of making mosaics
so minute that a glass almost is necessary to tell that they are not
painting, and also that at least as long ago as the Ptolemaic
period, Egyptian portraiture in part was of a similar type.
As already stated, and as Senora de Z. predicted, the objects
taken by me to Mexico for psychometrizing were not properly
selected, it appears, to produce the fullest results, yet it is at least
odd that I am able to contradict hardly a single particular
which was stated. Some that I thought erroneous at the time
proved correct. Several details that I am now uncertain about
are at least near the truth, and may be literally accurate, while of
the few which now seem to be unlikely, the only one yet dis-
proved may easily be erroneous from mere inference. One fact
which turned out quite other than I expected at the time, related
to an object which I picked up on the beach at Vera Cruz. I
had owned one like it for several years, given me under the name
of “ sea bean.” I am no botanist, and when I found a duplicate
among the seaweed on the beach, I was the more confirmed in the
supposition that it was the large seed of a marine plant. But
the entranced lady, holding the object rigidly between the tips of
her fingers, talked of seeing tall tropical trees growing in a forest
near some water. After the sitting was over, I told Dr. Pagen-
stecher that I thought the vision in error, and he responded:
“ With my experience, I bet on her horse rather than yours.”
The seed or nut was taken to two professional botanists, a Ger-
10 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
man and a Mexican, and both unhesitatingly declared it to be
from such a tree as the medium had described, and said that the
nut often falls into a river or is washed into it by freshets and at
length turns up on an ocean beach. While I shall continue to
look for data contradicting yet unverified details, it must be con-
fessed that my labors thus far have not been encouraging in that
direction.
Among the many commendable precautions observed by Dr.
Pagenstecher was the adoption of a schedule of queries by which
to elicit full reports from the entranced medium of what she saw,
the questions being of particular wording and in a particular
order; and he likewise took pains to speak in a uniform tone and
manner. Though, of course, in the many cases where he did not
himself know the history of the object until later, it would have
been impossible for him to give her any inadvertent hint.
The author of the book discusses the telepathic theory in
application to his experiments, and gives many instances wherein
at least no one in the room knew the facts. I have a few words
to say upon this theme. The evidence from the many reported
series of experiments for telepathy generally indicates that eviden-
tial results depend upon some " agent ” concentrating his attention
upon the selected objects, and thinking hard about them. More-
over, nearness between “ agent ” and “ percipient ” seems to favor
results. The appearance is that when results at a long distance
are obtained some kind of sympathetic relation has at least usu-
ally been preestablished between the two.
But, generally, the work of Senora de Z. does not look like
telepathy, measured by the data referred to. I say generally,
mainly because one would be inclined to credit certain incidents
to telepathy, in sheer desperation, not knowing how else to account
for them, unless he had recourse to spirits, which would be
another desperate refuge so far as the evidence for these particu-
lar incidents go. But take the case of the “ sea-bean ” already
mentioned. In my ignorance, I was telepathing to her, if any-
thing, that the object was picked on the beach, whereas she re-
ferred it to a tropical forest; that it was the seed of a sea-plant,
whereas she associated it with an inland tree. And it can hardly
be supposed that any botanist in the world was cancelling the
force of my impression by his energetic thinking of the true na-
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
11
ture of the object, seeing that not a person in the world but my-
self knew what I had picked up and what I put between her rigid
fingers. Another incident out of many is that of the two bows of
satin ribbon made to resemble each other in every particular, one
of which had a peculiar history, as a bow ; the other having been
specially made for the experiment from a roll of ribbon purchased
in a shop. No one but myself knew which I put in the medium’s
fingers, and in fact I did not know, for I somehow got the firm
impression that the one made for the occasion was the other.
Regretting that I had, as I supposed, identified the bow first given
her, I did my best to keep from thinking about it, although I re-
gard that as an impossible feat. But if the results had tallied with
the facts, it would have been said that the medium got them by
telepathy from my mind. Certainly I was under the impression,
as I heard her tell a peculiar history, and then, with the other bow
simply describe a scene of ribbon manufacture, that the stories
had become misplaced. But they had not been. And since
the only other person in the room who knew anything about the
objects had his back turned until I covered the bow and hands
with a cloth, no one was in a position to annul my hypothetical
telepathic message with his stronger one. The reader of the book
will observe how many cases there are where no one in the room
knew anything about the object. But I have stated two cases
where the only person who knew what objects were employed,
had false impressions about them, yet the truth prevailed.
While we have no real right to isolate particular experiments,
since a theory, to account for phenomena, must embrace them all,
yet let us take the case of an Egyptian amulet, and another very
interesting one connected with an old French jewel. The former
elicited the very graphic panorama of a royal funeral to be con-
tained in the book. The other brought an equally dramatic and
detailed scene connected with the French Revolution, not yet
reported. At least many of the details given of Egyptian
customs can be vindicated, and the other scene was at least in
part true, and the unknown details articulate with the known in
perfect keeping and verisimilitude. It may be said that supposing,
in these two cases and certain others, the nature of the object
could once have been learned by telepathy, the description would
follow as a matter of course. But here is a difficulty which stag-
12 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
gers me. Are we to ascribe to this simple, moderately educated
Mexican woman, with few books and for many years burdened
with the care of a large family, such erudition and enormous
mnemonic faculty that it is credible that, the moment the nature
of an object becomes (hypothetically) known to her, she can reel
off a string of statements about another country and age which is
relevant, and at the same time composed of true facts and in part
of claimed facts which it seems impossible to confute? If a col-
lege professor, on having a series of objects actually named and
■assigned to their places of origin could, without notice, describe
the Roman Forum from two points of view, (never having
travelled), describe persons, costumes, manners, and specific acts
fitting a particular chapter of the French Revolution, give in de-
tail the scene of human sacrifice so well vindicated by Dr. Pagen-
stecher’s Appendix 12, paint a veracious scene of deep-sea life,
depict an Austrian royal procession which perfectly fits time and
place, etc., I should think him a monster of learning.
Confining our attention for the moment to those cases where-
in the experimenter was acquainted with other lands and periods,
the fact that besides the verified statements there were others
which, though in keeping, were not known and may even yet not
have been verified, is one of the most significant as tending
against the telepathy theory. Had the medium’s story been
coterminous with the knowledge of anyone in the room, or all
combined, I could entertain that theory. Or had the unknown
parts been easily accessible in books, I could conceive of subcon-
scious memory and subconscious telepathing. But when I find
neither one nor all present know a part of the facts afterward
found to be true, that some details require diligent research to as-
certain, and that other details, while still unverified, yet are ren-
dered the more plausible by research, I am forced to say : this does
not look like telepathy ; on the contrary, it is exactly what I would
expect if I were certain that the medium actually was looking
upon a scene remote in time or place. For it would be unlikely
that all the details relative to some scene in the long past or far
distant history of an object should be known to me (unless I was
an actor therein) or laid down in books.
Another man might have become angry at being subjected to
the Sherlock Holmesing that Dr, Pagenstecher took with so much
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
IS
good nature. For instance, I sought an interview with a young
German soldier who, after an object whose history was unknown
to any one else had been psychometrized in his absence, told the
story so remarkably corresponding with what the psychic had
said. Sitting with him at one end of the room, while the doctor
and his wife were at the other, I made a remark about his telling
about the battle before the experiment was made, speaking in a
casual way as though this were the accepted thing to do. It was
good as a play to see the perplexity in the young man’s face, suc-
ceeded by surprise, as he responded: “ I never told them a thing.”
From his demeanor alone, I would have been convinced that he
told the truth and that the doctor, even as he affirms, was ignorant
of the scene until after the medium described it.
Another of my mean tricks may be worth relating. Dur-
ing a sitting, I suddenly passed the doctor a written para-
graph prefaced by a request for him to recite it to the medium.
The paragraph read about as follows; “You remember that I
told you about the Spaniard who was drowned, before we had
the sitting!” I am witness, also, that the doctor uttered the
Spanish rendition with the energy and ring of conviction which
is usually operative in trance in producing a false impression.
But the medium knitted her brows, shook her head, and strenu-
ously denied the truth of what the hypnotizer had hinted so
vigorously. Uttered as the words were, and considering the
established rapport, there would certainly have been an admission
had there been any ground for it.
The question naturally suggested itself whether the medium
was not able to draw inferences in some cases from feeling the
object over, it being conceded that she could not by sight, since
her eyes remained fast closed. There are two answers to this in-
quiry. The first is that hundreds of tests indicated the inhibition
of all her senses. These were the tests always hitherto employed
and regarded by psychologists as determinative. If it be sus-
pected that the condition did not remain fixed during the progress
of an experiment, then all previous reports of the kind are
vitiated. Once, in my presence, a bystander so deeply ran a needle
under her nails that she suffered much pain on coming to con-
sciousness, but she did not flinch. She did not feel, see, smell, or
taste, and heard only what she was told to hear. The second
14 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
answer is that once the tips of her fingers were all placed upon
an object they remained rigidly upon it, and there never once was
an appearance of feeling it over. And, thirdly, in the course of
Dr. Pagenstecher’s experiments, many objects would not have
given any hint as what was afterwards stated had they been felt
over with the utmost impunity. One of the experiments related in
the book is that of presenting, first a leaf from a tablet, having
on it a note written by a person just after being stricken with
apoplexy, another from the same tablet, written upon at a
quickly succeeding and more serious stage of the attack, and
a third upon which nothing was written. The scenes evoked by
the first two, as testified by two persons present when help was
summoned, were identically the same except that the second took
up the dramatic details of the real scene at a little later period
than the first, and carried it on a little farther. But the third
leaf brought nothing but a picture of the manufacture of paper.
If the psychic had felt over every part of the three papers she
could have gained no information, nor any if she had looked at
them without reading, smelled of them, tapped them at her ear
and tasted them. She might even have read the contents of the
two, and still she could not have surmised the most of the details
which she told.
An interesting circumstance is that often a detail was given
by the medium in its phenomenal aspect, that is, as it would have
appeared to her had she actually been present under the given con-
ditions. For example, she described a procession in a foreign
city seen at night by artificial light. The flags she said were of
two colors “ dark and white.” This was wrong as to the actual
colors, black and golden-yellow, but had she been actually looking
at the flag carried at a little distance from her in dimly lighted
(the event took place 65 years ago) streets at night, she might
have said : “ They are dark (or black) and white.” When a piece
of marble from the Roman Forum was put into her hands, the
first impression she got was that a town was building, but after-
ward she noted the fragments and broken columns and announced
that she saw ruins. The evidentiality of the incident is to be
found in other details, but if one should be set down at one end of
the Forum in the light of the moon he might, for a few moments,
have the same impression.
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
15
The most of the experiments alluded to above were not
among those witnessed by me. I was able to have only eight
sittings because the medium is never well, and the length and
complexity of our sittings demanded long rests. And the eighth
sitting was not for psychometry. It could not be expected that
in only seven sittings I, a stranger, should get the result that the
doctor, who lives near at hand, and with whom the medium is en
rapport, got in scores of sittings. Nor do the results with the ob-
jects which I carried to Mexico for the purpose appear to have
come near the doctor’s general average in value and interest. Curi-
ously, as already stated, this accorded with a prediction made by
the medium in trance before I arrived, as did the number of ob-
jects taken (fourteen, while she said they would be “ twelve or
fourteen Nevertheless there are bits of interest attached to the
scanty data given on holding my objects, and other experiments
under my control are well worth recording.
The doctor’s method is to hypnotize Sra. de Z. by holding a
polished metal button about eighteen inches in front of her eyes,
and to complete the process, after her eyes have closed, by passes.
He questions her, and when she announces that she is asleep the
experiments begin.
I. EXPERIMENTS OF MARCH 29th, 1921.
Besides the psychometry, there were experiments in most of
the sittings to show peculiar reactions in the medium. I will
quote these quite fully from my report of the first, on March 29th,
1921. Full details of all that I summarize in this Journal will
be found in the next Proceedings.
At this sitting, besides the subject, Sra. de Z., Dr. Pagenstecher.
whom I will hereafter usually designate as Dr. G. P., and myself,
there were present Dr. Viramontes and Mr. T. S. Gore, proprietor
of Hotel Geneve.
The experiments for testing the “ blocking of the senses ” were
carried on too fast for me to make such memoranda as I desired.
There were a number of experiments in which I silently touched
portions of Dr. G. P.’s body or indicated them in English, which the
medium does not understand, and the latter would get an impression
16 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
like a wave of cold in the corresponding portion of her body. When
the psychic’s eyelids were opened, her eyeballs would be found
rolled up so that only the whites were visible.
Then there were experiments arranged as to their order by me in
which Dr. G. P. made movements before her face, in different direc-
tions, and of varying character, and I was told that the psychic
always told the character and location of the movement. Generally,
as the psychic answered in Spanish, someone present would trans-
late the gist of it for my benefit. I banged a gong in her ear, but
she did not flinch. But I would have preferred that the gong had
not tinkled when it was handed me. However, a little later I clapped
my hands loudly close to her ear without any warning whatever.
Not only did she testify, as in answer to other questions, that she
had no sensation, but she did not flinch or start in the slightest, so
far as I could see.
Then a flash-light was cast upon her eyes. I thought I saw a
slight twitch. When done a second time there was none.
Salt and sugar were placed in turn upon her tongue and swal-
lowed. She answered that she could not tell what they were.
The olfactory sense was tested with ammonia and perfume in
turn.
Mr. Gore pricked deeply under her finger-nails with a pin, and
on the back of the hand. I saw no flinching nor the least sign of
discomposure. Mr. Gore thought there was a slight reaction when
first she was pricked under the nail, but none afterward.
Now the experiments took the form of demonstrating the trans-
fer of Dr. G. P.’s sensations to the hypnotized subject, or at least
her becoming aware of them as though they were her own.
(a) A flash-light was directed into Dr. G. P.’s eyes. I watched
her closely and saw her flinch strongly as the light flashed into his
eyes.
(b) Mr. Gore pricked Dr. G. P. in various places, and as I under-
stood it to be said by those who understood Spanish, she invariably
located the right place. Here I extemporized an alteration in the
conditions. I first pinched Dr. G. P.’s ear with my arm behind him,
and other places on his ear, as his elbow, and understood that she
reported correctly. I had him put his hands behind his back, and
standing so that even if her eyes had been open in full consciousness,
she could neither have seen where I touched him nor judged with
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
17
any near accuracy by our position. I pinched his right thumb and
one or two other places, and it was reported that she correctly located
the pinches.
Then he was caused to smell different substances. I hope that
the report of Mr. Gore will be more precise as to results, as I was
handicapped by not knowing Spanish. But I understood that she
expressed dissatisfaction when the ammonia was put to his nostrils,
but stated that she did not know what was the substance when
cologne, etc., were used, explaining that she had a cold. Dr. G. P.
says that she had previously told him that she feared that some of
the results would be negative on account of her cold. I requested
an empty vial and received it. Lest the medium should, in some
way, guess my intention, I first experimented again with one of the
previous vials, then silently presented the empty one to the doctor’s
nostrils. She said that she got nothing. She did not now add
(whether this has significance or not) any remark about not having
a cold.
Then the experiments were directed to the demonstration of
what Dr. Pagenstecher regards as a discovery that the seeming
emanation of force from his hands, felt by her as a cold wave, and
usually felt more strongly from his right hand than his left, may
nevertheless be made momentarily stronger in his left by the exer-
cise of his will. There were a number of experiments wherein he
indicated by signs or speaking in English, which Senora de Z. does
not understand, when he was about to make her feel the sensation
more strongly on her right side, and all appeared to be successful.
Dr. Pagenstecher also believes that his experiments have demon-
strated that the force (if it be that) emanating from him may be
increased or decreased by intercepting between his extended hands
and the psychic some colored material. It appeared from what took
place in my presence that an effect was produced by the colored
glove put on, whether the effect was direct or indirect, primary or
associational. When a red glove was put on the left hand, the
medium would report an increased effect on that side ; when a green
glove was put on upon the right hand, the medium’s report indicated
that green had an inhibiting influence. But I do not, at present,
see how it can be certain that, having at the first stage of the ex-
periments entertained the theory or suspected that red lent power,
and green and other colors decreased it, the operator may not be
18 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
subconsciously exerting his will when he wears the red glove, and
ceasing to exert it when he wears gloves of another color. To test
whether there was any groove of the order of presentation gotten
into unconsciously, I silently handed Dr. G, P. the green glove just
after it had been so used once, and made signs for him to put it on
his right hand. He did so, and the reaction in the medium’s con-
sciousness was repeated. Then I had him put the red glove upon
his left hand, and the appropriate result followed.
Experiments in transferred sensation were resumed. The me-
dium could not taste the sugar and salt when they were put on
Dr. G. P.'s tongue, owing again, as she said to her cold. Without
notice I put the ammonia bottle to the doctor’s nose, silently. This
was a success. She sharply shrank. The vials, I should have said,
were of the same shape and size.
A watch was put to Dr. G. P.’s ear. The medium said she
heard “ tic-tac, tic-tac.” Mr. Gore took out his watch and sug-
gested that I put that to the other ear at the same time. Instead, I
slipped his watch into my pocket unseen, and presenting a watch
with my right hand toward the Doctor’s ear, only pretended with
capped hand to hold Mr. Gore’s watch to the other ear. Dr. G. P.
did not, at least at first, realize that only one watch was in contact.
The medium swiftly brought her hand up to the region of her right
ear and said: “Something molests me.’’ To one witnessing this,
especially, it was an impressive result. It seemed to echo Dr.
G. P.’s own uncertainty at first in regard to what was happening to
his left ear — the one opposite the right ear of Senora de Z.
Up to this time, as appears always to be the case in connection
with this class of experiments, there had been no catalepsy (bodily
rigidity). But when an object is put into her hands for psychome-
trizing, the hands become cataleptic. This is always the case. About
two minutes elapse before her vision begins.
After further passes by Dr. G. P., I gave Sra. Z. a fragment of
marble with carvings upon it, and silently watched to see if her
fingers felt it over, or fumbled, giving any ground for a theory what
she subconsciously endeavored to estimate it by its contour, texture,
and so on. Regarding this and the other two objects put into her
hands at this sitting, my conclusion was without any misgiving that
there is no such movement of the fingers, or any ground for such a
suspicion. The ten fingers came into contact, the thumbs on the
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
19
back, the tips of the fingers on the front, in the most direct and
simple manner, and contact once established, remained immovable,
as catalepsy set in. At the end of each experiment I took the object
away with difficulty, removing the fingers almost singly, by effort.
Experiment with Piece of Marble.
Here I refer to Mr. Gore’s report, Psychometric Tests, Speci-
men No. 1.
“ Marble Fragment placed by Prince in her hands. Medium
says she feels uncomfortable."
[The following questions were put by Dr. G. P. The answers
by the medium are printed in italics.]
Do you see anything ? Not yet.
And now? Very confused.
Do you see anything? Very dark.
Where are you ? In the light of the moon.
On the street or an open place ? In an open place.
Do you see people ? No.
What do you see ? Many things, I do not know what.
What do they look like ? Like ruins.
Is it cool or warm ? Some arches and columns. Ruins. Very dis-
tant, far, ioo meters ( iooo years), no people, night time. Little
light. I do not see well. Pieces on all sides. Cut stones.
High mountains afar, somewhat pointed. Nobody. Night very
dark. Difficult to see. Some (ruins) covered with vegetation,
specially those remaining standing. M oss.
My own contemporaneous report proceeds :
Mr. Gore could not get everything down. I supplement by saying
that I distinctly remember that Dr. G. P. said the time must he
1,000 years or more ago, and he says that she said 100 meters.
(Dr. G. P. has a theory that every meter of distance at which the
psychic sees the objects of her vision corresponds roughly to 10
years of the time which has elapsed since the date represented by the
vision. This sounds fantastic, and maybe it is, but the data given
in the book show many close parallels.) Also Dr. G. P. told me,
before Mr. Gore’s report came to hand, that she spoke of the stone
as not looking like marble. (I remember that he said so at the
20 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
time, translating for my benefit), and that she said that it was in
part yellowish and in part dark. She also got the impression of a
volcano at a distance.
Today, March 30th, Dr. G. P. questioned her as to her post-
hypnotic recollections and she said that she herself seemed to be in
a hole. She was inclined to think the stone may have been marble,
but it was much discolored. The top of the mountain seemed in-
visible, but some distance above it, she saw fire shoot several times.
She thinks she got an impression of a volcano because, it being
moonlight, and stars visible, there could have been no storm ; besides,
lightning would not come successively in the same place. Therefore
a volcano.
Now as to the facts. The object presented was a small piece
of chiseled marble, given me by a school museum in which it was
labelled as from the ancient Samaritan Temple on Mt. Gerazim,
Palestine. The particulars stated by the medium were not many
and they did not at all correspond with the picture then in any
mind, the same I have always had when I looked at the fragment.
Without any knowledge of how the ruins look, I had pictured a
large, stately stone building with pillars, partly standing and
partly in ruins. There was, then, no appearance as of reading
my mind.
I do not know how the actual ruins look, and have not yet
succeeded in finding out. I do not know whether or not there was
even an active volcano in sight of Mt. Gerazim. Herein is one of
the reasons why some of my objects will be ill-selected. I should
have chosen such as I had wider information regarding. If this
experiment stood alone, there would attach to it the suspicion that
the psychic had Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in mind, from the com-
bination “ hole in the ground " and pointed mountain. Yet the
suspicion might be quite misleading. In fact, Pompeii is pretty
much out of the ground now, while 1000 years ago there proba-
bly was not even a hole. And whether or not there are holes
near the Samaritan ruins, I do not know. About all that can now
be said is that the marble fragment came from ruins (whereas it
might not have done so), did not externally look like marble,
though the broken side did, was “ in part yellowish, and in part
dark,” and that mountains of imposing heights are to be seen in
Psychometric Experiments nriih Maria Reyes de Z.
21
several directions from Mt. Gerazim at a distance of from twenty
to thirty miles. These statements are true. And now that we
think of it, Vesuvius is not “ afar ” from Pompeii, which nestles
at its very foot.
Experiment with " Sea Bean."
The next object placed by me in the psychic’s hands I had
picked up a few days earlier amid the seaweed on the shore of the
Gulf of Mexico at Vera Cruz. I had long owned one like it,
which had been given me under the name of “ sea-bean.” Not be-
ing a botanist I supposed it belonged to a marine plant, and this
impression was confirmed by finding another specimen with a
mass of seaweed. But the entranced lady began to say, accord-
ing to the incomplete notes taken by Mr. Gore :
There are trees. 6 to 7 in the morning, in a forest. Many
trees, luxuriant growth, not Mexican. Big trees, not tropical. Noise
of axes of the wood-cutters. I see no people. Birds. Water among
the trees reflecting the sun. Neither cold nor very warm.
Dr. G. P. translated portions of what was said as she pro-
ceeded, and I was strongly of the opinion that all was wrong, for
ought she not to have pictured, either the sea-coast with a small
brown oval object lying there, or else plants in the depths of the
sea? After the sitting, I told Dr. G. P. that the picture of the
forest was all probably incorrect and why. He replied in con-
fident tones : “ With my experience, I bet on her horse rather
than yours. We will both go to the botanist tomorrow and test
the matter.” This we did, and the professor of botany in the
German school, Karl Reiche, made and signed this statement :
“ The submitted seed proceeds from a tree, apparently belonging
to the family of Leguminosae, which grows in the jungles of the
tropics quite frequently. Through rainfalls or inundations, said
seeds are carried into die rivers and then into the sea, from where
they are again ejected onto the shore by the waves.”
Not content. Dr. G. P. showed the specimen to a Mexican
botanist of high standing, T. M. Ninez, whose signed statement I
22 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
have. He also says that the object is the seed of a tree of the
leguminosa family, and adds that it grows in warm and humid
regions, such as are found in the Mexican States of Chiapas and
Tabasco. The nut may easily have drifted up from say, Hon-
duras, which is “ not Mexican.” All these regions are technically
within the tropics. If I had been able to understand Spanish, 1
should have asked what she meant by tropical. It may well be
(how often I have found that persons not highly cultured mean
otherwise by a word than I had supposed!) that she meant that
it did not seem hot, and that would be so during a part of the
year. She saw water, reflecting the sun, perhaps such a river as
Professor Reiche speaks of.
Experiment with Ivory Paper Cutter.
The third object presented was an ivory paper knife. This
had some time before been psychometrized, and Dr. G. P. sug-
gested that it be used again as a demonstration of what he had
often proved, namely, that the same object calls up the same
vision. The psychic’s fingers closed on and remained fixedly in
contact with only the flat surface. I do not see why it might not,
granting that there was subconscious perception of surface,
weight, etc., have been of some entirely different material, say
of celluloid or polished ebony, (forming) an object of similar
flatness and smoothness. And there had been experiments with
objects of the same shape and substance, but of different histories,
(see Journal of August, 1920) which had yielded the same and
correct stories, both on the first and the second trials. In the case
of the paper-cutter, it will be of interest to readers of Dr. G. P.’s
forthcoming book, which tells of the first trial, to see that at the
second almost the same details are given in almost the same order.
The first time the operator withdrew the object when Sra. de Z.
cried out, fearing emotional ravages. This time he let it remain
a few minutes longer, and details were added. These are Mr,
Gore’s notes of what was said :
"Third Object. An ivory paper cutter. (Provided by Dr.
G. P.) Medium: Heat, perspiring. Open fields, palms, trees, big
ones with creepers ; up high in the grass, higher than me, are some
negroes underneath a roof among the trees, roof of grass. Eight
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
23
negroes are observing something. Clothes not modem. Breech
clothes, they do not smoke, they have bows and arrows. I wonder
what they are waiting for. In the distance they heard noises and
movements in the grass. Large animals are coming. Very thick,
I do not see them yet. The grass moves. One behind the other,
elephants which raise and bring out their trunks. They come
towards the negroes. These prepare their arrows, now they shoot
them, the elephants raise their ears (the negroes shoot arrows into
the ears) now one falls, one of the medium-sized one. When they
raise their ears, they shoot at them. They lift their trunks seeking,
screams, they are disturbed (they become furious) now the second
one falls, a little one, they are furious, they leave the path but they
(the negroes) continue shooting; the biggest one falls, three fallen,
there were about fourteen. I do not see well for the grass. The
negroes come down. They approach to see them (the fallen ele-
phants). Not many. The elephants now depart and the negroes
follow. Many monkeys, big and small, two or three the size of
Dr. G. P. Very ugly, they throw cocoanuts and stones (at the
fallen elephants) the small ones come down from the trees. The
elephants are dying. (At this point the medium gave a shriek that
startled us and began to tremble violently, finally she was able to
speak and explained that the large elephant had seized a monkey
with his trunk and threw him violently against a tree, the monkey
falling to the ground immovable whilst the rest of the monkeys ran
up into the trees.)”
My own report says :
It was interesting to see how the face, so immobile in the first
two psychometrical experiments, expressed amusement when she
talked of the monkeys, and strong emotion, not exactly fright, but
that, I would think, of being surprised and startled as she gave a
sharp double cry — a sort of “ Uh-hah ! ” — and her head jerked back.
Mr. Gore has not stated what Dr. G. P. reports, that after the monkey
was thrown, the elephant’s trunk came forward and it seemed to the
psychic as though he were reaching for her.
II. EXPERIMENTS OF MARCH 30th, 1921.
The second sitting was, like the first, held in Dr. Pagen-
stecher’s office in the evening, the medium, Dr. G. P., myself, Dr.
Viramontes, Mr. Gore, and Mr. Starr-Hunt, an American lawyer
residing in Mexico, being present.
I was aware of the nature of the test to be made. It appears
24 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
that some time before my arrival, a communication had been re-
ceived by Dr. Pagenstecher from an old friend of his, Mr. H., a
man of large wealth and high standing, whose name I know,
though it cannot for certain reasons be given here. I saw a pile
of his letters of previous dates, and there is no question that he
was the writer of the present one. The letter contained an
envelope doubly sealed, with wax, also a small folded paper im-
possible to read without breaking a number of wax seals, of
which two bear the clear impression of a signet ring.
It is a pity to abbreviate the story, but all documents and de-
tails will be given in the Proceedings. Mr. H.’s open letter,
which I read before the test, referred with respect to the peculiar
powers of Sra. de Z., and stated that an occasion had come when
these could be employed, not only for scientific ends, but for a
practical one in behalf of a friend of the writer. It begged the
doctor to have the document under the several seals put into the
medium’s hands, and have her, if possible, identify the writer of
it ; give details as to sex, age, stature, color of skin, hair and eyes ;
describe the clothing and, if a man, state whether he was smooth-
shaven, bearded or moustached ; and describe anything that the
person did or experienced. To do this in the presence of wit-
nesses and have them attest the record to be sent to him.
The doctor, upon receiving this, thought it would be well to re-
serve the experiment until my arrival, which was expected sooner
than it took place. Therefore he put the sealed envelope and
sealed paper into the hands of Mr. Starr-Hunt, the lawyer, to
keep, and in his hands they remained until the time of the experi-
ment. The Society has the envelope whose seals were broken in
the presence of the witnesses, March 30th, after the medium had
told the story of her vision, and also has photographs of the
sealed folded paper. I examined both as Mr. Starr-Hunt had
done, while the seals were intact; and after they were broken 1
examined them very carefully. In the light of my experience in
such tests, I am confident that there had been no tampering, and
this aside from any considerations of the testimonies of both the
doctor and the medium, of their reputation and of previous re-
sults obtained. I now quote from my original report :
As we had no stenographer, I arranged that Dr. Viramontes
Psychometric Experiments with Mario Reyes de Z.
25
should take down the questions, and Mr. Gore the answers, so far
as possible. After the medium was hypnotized, the folded sealed
paper was placed in her fingers, which became rigid, and remained
fixed throughout. The doctor began to question, which has to be
done to get the medium to speak, following a formula which he uses
always in starting speech. The woman's face was at first immobile
and her voice colorless. Later the words came more rapidly and
signs of excitement appeared. In the 7th minute, her right hand
and arm began to vibrate rapidly, which, as I had heard, and wit-
nessed in the 3rd experiment of the foregoing evening, is an accom-
paniment of strong emotion. In the 9th minute, she emitted several
sharp cries, her face was distorted, as I judged, by fright or horror,
and her whole body was shaking, especially the right arm and hand.
At the last cry, Dr. G. P. hastily removed the object from her fingers,
soothed her, and she awoke.
In the meantime the two named gentlemen had been taking
down the dialogue, as follows : What appears in round paren-
theses they had failed to get down, but was afterwards supplied by
common consent.
7:20. Letter [should be “piece of paper”] placed in hands of
medium. [The following questions were put by Dr. G. P. and the
answers by the medium are printed in italics.]
Do you see anything ? Not yet.
As soon as you commence to see, hear, smell or feel anything you
will tell me. Yes.
Where are you ? In a room ? In the open ? Not yet, I do not know
yet, I feel cool.
Do you feel cool ? What else do you feel ? It is moving.
Why does it move ? I believe I am on a ship.
Why do you believe so? Because I am seasick.
Do you see anything ? It is night.
What hour is it? Between 2 and 4 in the morning.
Do you see anything ? Many people.
What are the people doing? They are frightened.
Who is in front of you? [A formula question, put because of the
usual relative importance of what was seen in front of the
medium.] A gentleman (Un Senor).
Do you see his face? Yes, he is white, (he has a) beard and
moustache.
He is not shaven ? No.
26 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
What is he doing? He is looking towards the sea. Yes.
What peculiarity do you see? A very large scar.
Where ? Over the left eye-brow.
What other particular ? Nothing, only his figure, tall, rather stout.
What else ? He has black eyes, black hair.
Any other mark ? No, only a scar.
What is he doing ? Now he tears out a leaf from a little book, he
turns to write.
How does he write? Against the wall.
The rest of them, what are they doing? They are frightened,
scream, weep.
Why do they scream? Why weep? J do not know why. ( Hear an
explosion. )
An explosion? They talk in English. They put on life-preservers.
[At this point the medium became quite excited and her words
came too fast for the writer to get them down, but she de-
scribed a scene of confusion, commands in English, attempts
of officers to calm the passengers.]
[In answer to a question omitted by Dr. Viramontes.] I do not
know. Now they hear a detonation (medium describes an ex-
plosion very much more violent than the preceding one) like a
battle and ( rattle of) machine guns, shots (medium dilates on
the rattle and roar of noises and says it is as if a bomb had
exploded among ammunition and set the cartridges off.)
Many shots ? He that writes turns towards the sea, all cry out, raise
their arms. (He turns and writes more on the paper.)
And he himself? What does he do? Now he rolls up his paper.
What does he do? He takes a bottle from his pocket and he puts it
( the paper) in the bottle and puts a cork in it. (Here medium
graphically describes the action of the man in corking the
bottle, explaining how he drove in the cork by pounding it
against the side of the cabin and how he then threw it over-
board.)
[(At this point the medium gives several screams of terror and is
thrown into a most distressful state, gasping and saying words that
sound like “ / drown." Dr. G. P. at once commands her to awake.
She trembles from head to feet and gasps out the following:) ]
They have all drowned.
7:30. Medium is entirely awake and suffering from violent
emotion, trembling and crying.
[(As soon as the medium has calmed down somewhat, Dr. G. P.
invites her to relate the recollection she has brought through from
the trance state. After several attempts and breakdowns from
emotion, during which she exclaimed: "It was horrible, horrible,
horrible." she got started on a narrative of the occurrence in her
vision.)]
Psychometric Experiments ztnth Maria Reyes de Z.
27
[The writer was only able to take down the salient points as the
words came with a rush.]
" A tall person like Viramontes, white, full beard, Spanish type.
At the moment of sinking he said : ‘ My God, my children ( Dios
mio! Mis hijos)' (All spoke) English. Many people. Enormous
ship, no tempest, an explosion. They expected a disaster. They
try to lower the boats. The officers try to calm them. A second ex-
plosion, very much greater, then like machine gun fire (Dr. G. P.
asks how far the man who wrote was from her, she replies) a half
meter distance. Voices of command in English. It sank rapidly. I
sank with the ship. Early dawn, some stars. Lights (of the ship)
veiled. Fireworks of red and blue. The man was from thirty-five
to forty years old. Many people, children, women. (In reply to
question from writer.) (Not less than) 800 persons. That there
was no battle. Noises like explosions in boxes of ammunition.”
I find in my own notes this description of the medium’s ap-
pearance after she woke and during her post-hypnotic rehearsal :
She wakes at 7:30, still under the spell of excitement, though
apparently endeavoring to restrain the manifestation of it. She is
caused to smell of an open bottle, and later given something to drink.
Operator asks a question. Medium shakes her head and looks dis-
tressed. She tries to smile, with poor success. The operator, after
a pause, apparently asks a question. The medium shakes her head
and makes negative movements with her hands, as if unwilling,
while her face deepens in its expression of horror. She says some-
thing the operator swiftly translates, turning to me. I understand
it to be “ He said : ‘God, my children! * ” At 7 :33 the medium is
answering. Her voice is husky, her body is now quiet, but her
right hand is still vibrating strongly, her eyes stare wildly, and all
her features express powerful excitement of a painful kind. The
operator translates an expression — something about " Gatling gun."
Her face is flushed. She looks exactly as though she had just
passed through a tragical experience. I set down the following
broken bits as the operator hastily rendered them into English for
me : “I went down with the steamer — something happened so a
thousand people are on deck already — something which went into
boxes of ammunition which exploded
I continue in the words of my original report. At 7 :44 Mr.
Starr-Hunt breaks the seals of the letter which accompanied the
28 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
sealed document put in the medium’s hands, and reads it in the
original Spanish. I, of course, cannot understand it, so I watch
the faces of four men who can, and occasionally that of the medium
who is in the background, generally walking about, but occasionally
stopping to listen, and betraying signs of renewed excitement. She
at no time looks as though gratified at any confirmation of what she
has said, but her emotion appears to be painful only, and absolutely
genuine. As the fragmentary portions of her utterances were earlier
translated for me, so now, as the reading began, I expected that these
utterances would be wide of the mark, as I had suspected from the
letter which had enclosed the sealed envelope that the matter con-
cerned a malicious anonymous message, the identity of whose author
was in question. But as the reading of the sealed letter proceeded,
I could see that the gentlemen were being impressed. Their atten-
tion was riveted more and more, they began to nod and look at each
other. The operator was tensely interested, as were the others, and
his expression passed from that of simple question to that of more
and more emphatic confirmation. He began to glance at me and
utter short ejaculations to let me know that the medium’s statements
were being verified. Dr. Viramontes’s grave countenance signified
the deepest empressement, and he repeatedly, as I looked at him in-
quiringly, uttered with emphasis such words as " ex cellente! ” The
effect of the startling verification, as I soon found had been effected,
culminating in the reading of the lines hastily written by the doomed
Spaniard, upon the assembled group, was almost as dramatic as I
had before witnessed in the case of the medium herself. Even Mr.
Starr-Hunt, American, showed in his face that a strong impression
had been made upon him, and pronounced the incident an “ extra-
ordinary ’’ one.
The next act was to read the contents of the sealed letter to me,
in English, which were as follows :
Having left Boston on board the yacht of a friend of ours, we
sailed for Havana in order to take the “ Maria del Consuelo”; but
as she had not yet arrived we stayed there some days and had the
opportunity of meeting a family, the head of which disappeared with-
out it being known exactly how and when.
His last letter dates from New York, having been written in
those days when the greatest number of ships was sunk by the
Germans. In said letter he announces to his wife his intention to
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
29
start for Europe on account of not having been able to settle his
business in New York; but he does not tell the name of the boat
nor the exact sailing date — though he says that the steamer would
sail within a month, she (the wife) believes the ship sailed imme-
diately— probably in order to prevent her from worrying about a
possible disaster.
He never was heard of since, not even the name of the boat he
took ; but it is to be presumed that he embarked under an assumed
name on the Lusitania as she was sunk precisely in those days.
About a year ago an official of the Cuban Government sent for
her and delivered to her the enclosed paper saying that there was
reason to believe that it was intended for her ; that the said paper
had been found in a bottle amongst the rocks on the shore of the
Azores Islands by fishermen ; that the person they delivered it to
sent it to Havana as it bore that direction, and it is assumed that it
was written by the husband of that unfortunate woman because of
the name “ Luisa," written on the paper and which is her name,
and “ "his name.*
His signalment is as follows: tall, broad, without being stout,
fair skin, dark eyes and abundant black hair, pronounced Spanish
type; thick eyebrows, and above the right one a very pronounced
scar ; full black beard, large and slightly aquiline nose, broad fore-
head. His name was Ramon and his age thirty-eight years.
He leaves a widow and two children ; a boy of five years and a
girl three years of age.
Considering that his wife was opposed to his trip to Europe, fore-
boding an accident, and that in spite of all researches his name was
never found among the lists of passengers who sailed on the differ-
ent boats sunk at that time by German submarines, it is believed that
he embarked under a false name in order to keep from her the fact
of his sailing, in case she should look over the said passenger list.
There is also room for another supposition, ». e. that instead of
taking the boat in New York he sailed from another American port
in order to conceal his voyage frqm his wife.
You will readily imagine the importance of the description Mrs.
Z. (the medium) may give of the writer of the aforesaid paper
must have for the unfortunate woman.
Then the contents of the paper which had been held by the
* Undoubtedly a mistake of the writer as the signature on the paper
reads : “ Ramon.” Dr. G. P. Farther on it will be learned that the man
was a political refugee, living in Havana under an assumed name. His
real name was Mr. H., the writer of the above letter, who knew
what the real name was, could easily make the slip. In fact, it is easier
to account for in a real than a fictitious situation. W. F. P.
30 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
psychic during her dramatic recital, and whose seals had been
broken in my presence, was read aloud in English.
“ The ship is sinking. Farewell, my Luisa, see that my
children do not forget me.”
Thus far the lines run straight across the page, as will be seen
in the photograph here presented. But the rest of the message is
written at a steep upward slant as if hastily added :
“ Ramon, Havana. May God care for you and me also.
Farewell.”
It can hardly be denied that the appearance of the paper cor-
responds with her description, as comparison with the letter by
Mr. H. has already shown, that her description of the writer was
astonishingly correct. The sheet was tom from a little note-
book, as the left edge testifies. It was tom across unevenly, as
though in haste. It shows indications of having been written in
two sections, the last in greater haste. Only his first name is
signed, and his wife’s first name is in the text. Havana, their
temporary home, is indicated. If the ship was about to go under
the waves, one might well be in a state to forget that he had not
set down the last name.
On the following evening, March 31st, Dr. Pagenstecher had
a short experiment with Sra. de Z., in the presence of Dr. Vira-
montes, to see if she could give any so-called " transcendental ”
information about the Spaniard and his wife. During deliver-
ances of this class, the psychic's whole body, below the neck, is
in a state of cataleptic rigidity, and the information, instead of
simply coming in a visual and auditory way without giving ac-
count of its source, now professes to be from " Them,” though
all efforts to find out who “ They ” are supposed to be, fails. The
psychic had been effected to the extent that the vibration of her
arm continued all of the thirty-first.
At this time, " They ” stated that the dead Spaniard had been
a political refugee, for that reason in Cuba under an assumed
name, and that the scar was from a bullet fired by a political
enemy. Dr. G. P. therefore wrote to the widow, and later re-
ceived a lettler from her, the original of which, written June 26th,
in Los Angeles, Cali fomia, to which place she had gone, is in the
possession of the Society, and will appear with many other sup-
porting documents in the Proceedings. This letter, besides touch-
Digitized by Google
The Paper Found in the Bottle.
GocmjIc
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z. 31
ing expressions of gratitude, and of relief from the suspense of
imagining her husband in some Spanish prison, not allowed to
write to his family, fully confirmed the " transcendental ” state-
ments. “ I must confess,” she replied to the doctor’s queries,
“ that he was a political refugee, who was going to Spain in order
to ” — I am not yet sure that I have permission to include the rest
of the sentence. “ It is true that my husband lived in Havana
under the adopted name of Ramon ’’ “ As to the scar, it
was made by a bullet which penetrated under the skin without
piercing the skull, when a political enemy of great influence tried
to have him assassinated ; and the enemy was never punished
despite the confession of the would-be assassin.” The last letter
which the lady received from her husband was written from New
York at the beginning of April.
In response to my request, I received a postal-card bearing
the postmark “ Los Angeles,” dated June 26th, and bearing a few
lines by Mr. H., the man of large business concerns who submitted
the test, and Sra. Luise herself, in whose interest the ser-
vices of the former were engaged. The postal-card shows a scene
in Havana, was issued by a Havana news company, and had
probably been secured there by the lady before her departure.
I requested of the widow a letter written by her husband, in
order to compare it with the note found in the bottle. Mr. H.
himself selected one from those which she had, choosing one
written Jan. 10, 1915, a few months before his death, and one
written with pencil like the note with which it was to be com-
pared. The letter has every appearance of being an old one, and
the writing is beyond any doubt the same as that taken from the
bottle.
III. EXPERIMENTS OF APRIL 1st, 1921.
For reasons of space I will touch upon these lightly in this
place. Together with the usual tests to demonstrate unusual
psychical relations between herself in hypnosis and the operator,
there were two psychometrical tests, both of inferior importance.
Experiment with the Old Fashioned Shoe.
I put into Sra. de Z.’s fingers a shoe worn by my mother at
her wedding. This was a very thin, limp affair, made of thin
32 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
leather and grey thin cloth, very different from anything in our
times. There was hardly any heel, and the fingers did not touch
what there was, but those of one hand were placed upon the
cloth lying flat against the sole, while the fingers of the other
hand rested against the limp leather. If there was any normal
inference as to what the object was, it was a noteworthy one.
The operator had no notice what the object was to be, and his
back was turned until I covered it with a towel. I will now al-
low Mr. Gore to speak :
“ Specimen No. 4 put in the hands of medium by Dr. Prince and
covered up by him with a towel, meanwhile Dr. G. P. had turned
around and did not see the nature of the object put into the me-
dium’s hands.
“ The medium began to describe a scene in what we soon recog-
nized as a shoe factory, the entrance of the workmen and women,
noise of machinery in the adjoining room, she calls the noise that of
sewing machines, she describes a counter with piles of skins and
cloth, lasts of all sizes. The workmen and women have all entered,
leaving a man and two girls alone in the room. One girl writes on
a typewriter while the other dusts the counter and the piles of skins,
cloths and other articles. On the counter stands a wooden last,
which looks like a woman’s foot, it being too small to be considered
as a man’s foot, and likewise too large for a baby’s foot. On the
wall she saw different pieces of leather hanging, of small size.
“ The girl who dusts the counter, now and then shakes a piece of
grey cloth, as if she intended to shake off the dust. The man stands
and examines something, he has a peculiar small beard, he wears a
small cap like a Turkish fez.
" Dr. Prince now removes the specimen which turns out to be a
woman’s grey cloth shoe. The medium has given us the scene in
which the shoe was originated, in all probability, but not the emo-
tional scene, of human interest, which Dr. Prince says the shoe was
a witness to. Dr. G. P. then explains that he has lately come to the
conclusion that the medium does not see the human connection with
objects unless they have been in direct contact with the human flesh
during a period of emotional stress. Dr. Prince admits that his test
articles do not conform to this condition and expresses regret that
he did not know of this condition in time to have made a different
selection of articles.”
I suppose at the time that the reference to “ sewing-machines ”
could not be correct. But it appears that sewing machines were
Psychometric Experiments with Maria ■ Reyes de Z.
33
in use as early as 1849, and that by 1855 they were quite largely
employed. Curiously, I have not yet been able to make certain
whether or not they were used in shoe shops by that date (per-
haps some reader will inform me) but it seems very possible.
The reference to a typewriter is not correct, but in view of simi-
lar errors corresponding to the looks of things, it may be that
some machine was employed which looked like a typewriter.
The dusting off pieces of grey cloth is a striking feature of the
vision, as the cloth might naturally be thought to be intended for
the uppers of shoes, and the cloth of the real shoe was grey.
Experiment with a Piece of Wood.
The next object used was a small strip of wood, only a slender
edge representing the original surface. It had been taken from
the flag-staff of the monitor Tecumseh of Admiral Farragut's
squadron, which in 1864 was sunk by a Confederate torpedo,
about a hundred men going down.
The medium experienced two visions by turns, one of a forest,
sunlight, birds and running water, such as probably corresponded
with the environment of the tree out of which the flagstaff was
made, the other of the interior of a large room, she thought 60
or 70 feet long, and could not judge the width of; not a living
apartment, yet a place where people congregated, too dark to see
the interior clearly. Once she remarked “ I feel as if floating
high in the air with an imperceptible balancing movement ” and
again, when speaking of the interior of the room, she said that
she was constantly looking up. When transferred from the light
outdoor scene to the interior she felt half blinded.
Like most of my own objects, the results with this were in-
decisive. And yet there are curious parallels with the facts. The
long room, not a private apartment, yet a place where people
congregate might fit a part of the under-deck interior of the
monitor with a crew of a hundred men. Such a place, being under
water, would indeed be dark, apart from what artificial lighting
there might be. One standing in it would indeed have to look up
to indicate the spot which the flagstaff occupied. And possibly
certain sensations obscurely hinted at the floating of the flag and
its “ balancing ” with the rocking movement of the vessel on the
water. Perhaps this interpretation is going too far, and I would
34 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
not suggest it if even the poorest of the tests did not at least, in
similar fashion, seem to be groping after and getting near the
facts. I have tried many experiments for psychometry with per-
sons who have given no evidence of possessing any powers in this
direction, partly in order to see if by the utmost ingenuity I could
make what was said seem to hint at the real facts. Very seldom
was it possible, in any case with the ordinary person who recited
his or her reveries. But, so far as I know, the visions of Sra. de Z.
if not literally true throughout, have contained such curious hint-
ing details that, on the contrary, even in the poorest and the
vaguest of them has made it impossible not to be forcibly re-
minded of the actual details. That piece of wood might have been
from any one of many objects whose history would not yield as
the flagstaff of the ship did, to a plausible interpretation of the
vision. Suppose it had been the piece of wood of similar shape
which I thought of taking, a part of the Charter oak. Where
would have been the relevance, near or distant, of the details of a
room, darkness, floating or balancing? For that matter, where
would have been the relevance of the allusion to a forest and
running water? We do not know that the flagstaff was from a
tree in the forest, to be sure, though it probably was; we do not
know that the tree from which it was cut grew by running water.
But neither do we know that these are not the facts, whereas, if
the wood had been that from the oak, I would have known that
they were not facts. Again, supposing that the piece had been
that which I have from the country schoolhouse where Nathan
Hale was teacher long ago, where would have been the relevance
of the allusions to 60 or 70 feet, darkness, floating and balancing,
since that schoolhouse boasted no shutters and carried no flag? I
have pieces of wood from several other historic objects and places
and cannot make any of them fit in any degree equal even to the
indefinite fashion in which the fragment of the flagstaff fits the
vision.
If, to yield an emotional scene from the past, the object needs
to have been in contact with the body of a person taking part in
the scene, we can see why the drama of the sinking of the Moni-
tor could not appear. The paper which evoked that other scene of
sinking and drowning was in the hands of the Spaniard when he
knew that the vessel was about to go down.
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z. 35
IV. EXPERIMENTS OF APRIL 4th, 1921.
Place, Dr. Pagenstecher’s office. Present, the Medium, Dr.
G. Pagenstecher, Dr. Prince, Mr. Gore; later on. Dr. Viramontes
and a stenographer.
With the Satin Bows.
I have brought in pasteboard boxes exactly alike, two bows as
precisely alike as possible in shape, and feeling. Particular pains
was taken that both should be of a similar quality of satin, similar
size, shape and thickness. One of them had been used before, and
had called up a scene in a church — Mexican Indians dancing before
an altar, etc., the bow having been taken from the altar of a distant
church in Mexico where the dancing ceremony does take place
monthly. The other had never been experimented with I opened
one of the boxes at random and purposely took it out wrong side
uppermost, that being the side on which I could not tell the bows
apart by sight, and placed it, still with that side uppermost, in the
medium’s fingers, which closed upon it. While the operator’s back
was turned, he was given the signal, a towel was over hands and
object, effectually concealing them from him. Thus no one living
knew which of the two bows she was holding. It is now 7 :06. From
the scraps which the operator translates for my benefit she is evi-
dently describing the church scene. This being assured, I secretly
looked at the other bow to see which one she has in her hands. It
is the front side which shows the difference, one being slightly
spotted and a trifle yellower. It proves that this is the one she has.
As I remember the rapid statement about the two bows given me
several days before to experiment with where I will, it is not the
spotted one which came from the church, and she is wrong. But
stay, did I understand correctly ? It would seem as though it would
be the bow long on the church altar which would show the spots and
yellowing of time. Verily, I believe I am mistaken.
At 8:16 I take the spotted bow away, and substitute, after the
fingers have relaxed the other, again with the wrong side, so similar
in every way to the other, uppermost, and so place it in the Medium’s
fingers. The same precautions are observed to prevent Dr. Pagen-
stecher from knowing which bow is in her hands. Presently she
complains that she cannot see, because her fingers are not all on the
36 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
bow, and asks them to be moved. I already have found that this is
not a perfectly easy thing to do because of the catalepsy. Operator
asks if he shall do it and I consent as one of the bows has been
already described, and I am confident that, even if he desired, he
could not tell which is which from the side visible. The hand is
trembling slightly, but the face expresses no agitation. Little is
translated to me, but at one point the operator says in an English
aside to me that he is trying to make her believe that the statement
that somebody is French is a mistake. His words and manner seem
earnest and sincere as he speaks to her, but she shakes her head
vigorously, and is evidently not to be shaken. The test over, it is
proved to my entire satisfaction that the older, yellowed and spotted
bow is the one from the church (as commonsense should have shown
me from the first) so that she attached the church scene to the
proper nhjert.
Now let us compare Mr. Gore’s report of what was said dur-
ing the scene whose visible appearance I have described :
“ Psychometric test. Dr. Prince puts an article in the hands of
the medium and covers it up with a towel.
[Questions are put by Dr. G. P. and the medium's answers are in
italics.]
Do you see anything ? Not yet.
Now do you see anything? Not yet, confused.
Is it day or night? It is day, but do not see well yet.
Are you in a room, in the open or below ground? In a room.
What is in the room? I do not see well yet, I am tired.
What do you see in the room ? Many people are moxnng around.
What kind of people I I do not see well yet.
Now do you see? I am commencing.
What do you see? Many people.
What kind ? Poor ones.
What nationality ? Mexicans.
What do they do ? I do not see well yet.
What do you see in front of you? A high thing where the candles
are.
What impression does it make on you? An altar.
Why do you think so? Because of the lights.
What else do you hear ? Prayers.
What else do you hear? Music, but very curious.
How is the music? Like the sounds of a flute.
Do you hear nothing else? Not anything else.
Psychometric Experiments with Maria. Reyes de Z.
37
What are the people doing? Praying.
How ? On their knees.
All ? No, some dance in front of the attar.
How ? Jumping.
What else are they doing? They are only jumping and putting
flowers; jumping like a kind of dance."
So the psychic repeated her previous story regarding the bow
that had come from the, to her, unknown church of the curious
dancing ceremony, while the other, which had no particular his-
tory, she got a simple story of manufacture in a French mill,
which I understand is a true one. Now all sorts of variations
in the experiments had been tried on the medium in the course of
the intensive study which Dr. G. P. had made. How was the
medium to know, when I placed the first bow between her fingers,
that it was not another one given her for a test, that is, if she re-
membered the former experiment at all at the time? Does any-
one credit that after weeks had passed, her rigid fingers could
infallibly detect anything they had once touched? And how did
she know, when the second one was given her, that it was not the
same one, put back for another test? I wonder if, in our ingenu-
ity to escape from the supernormal in one direction, we may not
walk out of the frying-pan into the fire.
With Two Pieces of Pumice Stone.
I place in the medium’s fingers (after they relax) a piece of
pumice stone, one of two shaped as nearly as possible alike, and
of the same size. This one has been kept for a considerable period
of time in a clock in Dr. Pagenstecher’s study, one which besides
striking the hours gives a single stroke midway between the hours.
The operator's back is turned until the object is covered with a
towel, so that he has no opportunity of knowing which of the two
arranged pieces it is, though I tell him it is one of the two.
This, according to what Mr. Gore reported, is the English of
what the psychic said :
[Questions put by Dr. G. P., answers by medium in italics.]
Do you see anything? Not yet.
Now do you? Yes.
Where are you ? In a room.
What is there in it? There is a man (Un Senor).
38 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Do you see better ? A little better.
Do you hear anything? Not yet, I only see.
What do you see ? A man is doing something in a big mortar.
Tell me what you see? A man is breaking stones and then grinds
them, he puts something in a small fan and then in the fire, 1
said stones, I believe it is a laboratory.
Of what? Of a chemist.
Do you hear something? A noise, curious, as if it were raining, it
is at intervals but regular.
Can you count the drops ? The drops f No.
The noise of the drops? They are very rapid. In the distance I
hear the noise of bell strokes.
Count them.
The medium said “ one, two three ” then paused, continued :
" one — one, two, three, four,” paused, went one " one — one, two,
three, four, five,” and so continued in groups until she had
reached “ eleven.” The first “ one ” in each group followed by a
slight pause is supposed to stand for the half hour clang which
the clock makes. Drs. Pagenstecher and Viramontes say that in
an experiment with a piece of pumice-stone which had been kept
for days in the dock, there are always 60 seconds between any
two successive groups redted. The sounds as of regular rain-
drops are presumed to represent the ticking of the clock, and the
bellstrokes to represent its striking.
What the laboratory of the chemist (druggist) has to do
with the pumice-stone cannot, I suppose, be proved, or that it is
relevant at all. The piece of part of a pumice-stone was pur-
chased at a druggist’s (“chemist’s”) and no one can say that
the pumice block was not witness, as it were, of a scene like that
described.
My report continues :
At 7:46 the other similarly shaped piece of pumice stone is
handed by me to the operator, who places it in the medium’s fingers.
This one has been subjected to no process beyond that of cutting it
off by a small saw. The operator says, aside to me, that she is
describing the same initial vision. But, in addition, she heard “ a
curious noise which makes me nervous.” “ It is like a saw, some-
thing that squeals.”
Coming originally from the same block, it would be proper
Psychometric Experiments with Maria Reyes de Z.
39
that both should give the laboratory scene, if that occurred. The
second piece gave in addition only the sound of a saw. Of course
it was sawed from the block. So was the first piece, but it might
be that the many days of subjection to the sounds of the clock
obliterated the impressions of the saw. In the cases of the three
leaves from the note-book of the man stricken with an apoplectic
fit, one, that which he did not write upon, evoked only the vision
of a paper-mill. A second written on at the beginning of the
seizure by the man unable to speak, yielded the same, but was
followed by a vision portraying the first stage of the patient's
seizure, while the third, written on at a later stage, with his
left hand, when his right side was helpless, and his danger was at
its height, dropped out the vision of the paper mill entirely and
gave only that of the illness, coming of a doctor, bleeding, etc.
There may have been some similar obliteration in the case of the
first pumice-stone. I am not arguing that this was the case, but
groping for a rational solution of the problem involved. At least
the psychic, on touching the two pieces of pumice-stone of the
same size and shape, rightly intimated what had been the last
particular experiences of each.
It may be that the experiments have now been sufficiently
sampled for the Journal. As stated already, the full record of the
series will be printed in the Proceedings. But if consent can be
gained to publish the interesting matter of the eighth sitting,
something of that and the intervening sittings may appear in a
future issue.
One incident of the eighth sitting, related to the case of the
Spaniard and the doomed ship, may be stated now. In the course
of the questions put to the entranced psychic at that date, I sud-
denly placed before Dr. Pagenstecher a question and asked him
to translate and put it to the medium at once. The question was
this:
“ You remember what you said about the ship and the Span-
iard last week? You will now answer me truthfully, as you al-
ways so. Did I not tell you about the Spaniard and the ship at
some time before you described the scene?”
I am witness to the force and sincerity of his delivery as he
put the question and its preamble, as though to force the truth
out of her. Owing to the authority wielded by the operator over
40 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
a person in long rapport with him in hypnosis, the expectation
would be, in the very difficult supposition (owing to all the cir-
cumstances hitherto described) that she had been given previous
information, that she would admit the fact, now urged as though
it were a fact, in tones ringing with emphasis and seeming convic-
tion. The very least that could be looked for in that case is that
she would be silent and perturbed. But before he was done speak-
ing, her head was shaking with dissent, and the moment he ended,
she emphatically denied that what he intimated ever took place.
Another interesting matter was the diminution of weight in
the cases of both Sra. de Z. and Dr. Pagenstecher as measured
by weighing both immediately before and immediately after the
trance. The amount of shrinkage varied for no ascertained rea-
sons, and if there was any normal reason for such degrees of
shrinkage, it was not evident to the physicians and others present.
Once, at the end of an experiment the medium gave the recog-
nized signs of fainting, and was given water to drink, yet the
standard scales registered her weight as less than before the ex-
periments began.
Interested readers will do well to consult Dr. Pagenstecher’s
book “ Past Events Seership,” when it appears.
)OvJ!
A Versatile Medium.
41
A VERSATILE MEDIUM.
Edited by E. J. Dingwall.
The subject of the following report is the " Rev. Dr.” Hugh
Robert Moore, a medium for physical phenomena, who at the time
of writing (Dec 1921) is giving sittings and holding services in
New York City. Amongst the earlier records that the Society
possesses concerning this person is one dated Dec 3, 1906. It
was an enquiry as to the work of Moore who was then practicing
as a medium on 13th Street, New York City. He describes sit-
tings and relates how Mr. Moore has an Indian control called
Pansy who was said to materialize and walk about in Indian
regalia shaking hands with members of the audience. He also
tells us that at that time Moore was holding what was termed a
Pansy Literary Class which consisted of a series of questions
asked by the audience and answered by Pansy, who spoke in a
shrill falsetto voice. In 1904 it is said that Moore and his wife
had been exposed in Brooklyn and arrested, whilst at another
time he narrowly escaped arrest in Philadelphia. In 1907 came a
more serious exposure. At that time Moore was Pastor of the
Eirst Church of Progressive Spiritualism holding services each
Sunday at the Berkeley Lyceum in New York. A Mrs. Harriet
Strickland instructed her lawyer to institute proceedings against
Moore charging him with defamation of character and naming
several persons to whom he is alleged to have defamed her in
•order to prevent fraud from being exposed. It appears that the
lady in question was paid a weekly remuneration of 12 dollars
for serving Moore as a materialized spirit, and eight other per-
sons were named who served in a similar capacity. Moore's two
•daughters are also said to have posed as materializations in the
seances of which five were held weekly at a dollar for admission.
The business went well if we can judge from a letter dated Sept.
22, 1905, and written by Moore to Mrs. Strickland. It appears
that over 60 dollars a week were paid out in wages, 116 dollars
were being paid for rent, and there were other expenses. Mrs.
Strickland was kept fairly busy during the sittings. Often she
42 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had to appear sixty times as different spirits in one evening, and
gradually some of the sitters began to suspect that all was not as
it should be at the Moore circle. One sitter in particular who
had been a great number of times and was well acquainted with.
Moore and his friends, noticed that the materialized spirit had
a thickening on her hand and was one day amazed to find the same
thing on the hand of a member of a pleasure party which had been
got up and of which Moore and his party were members. He
charged the lady (Mrs. Strickland) with being the spirit: she
confessed, and the secret of the materializations was discovered.
On the publication of the story of Mrs. Strickland’s suit
Moore hastily left New York and decamped for Dayton, Ohio,
which, it was said, was his place of birth.
In 1921, Moore was found again in New York in connection
with at Church for Psycho-Science and holding seances in an
apartment in 36th Street. I had received reports of Moore's
phenomena which now included trumpet work and also what he
termed " etherealizations ’’ which were similar to, although not
identical with materializations. His performances at this centre
were the crudest examples of fraudulent manipulation that I have
ever seen. The following are extracts from my account pre-
served in the files of the Society :
On , , 1921, I was present by invitation at a
sitting for physical phenomena given by Dr. Hugh Moore of Dayton,
Ohio. Mrs. G. had given permission for her apartment to be used
for the purpose and Mr. and Mrs. B. who had previously entertained
Moore were present. The room was a medium sized one and was
sparsely furnished. Small wooden chairs were arranged around the
walls. At one comer a cabinet had been fitted up consisting of
black curtains hung from the two walls from top to bottom, and a
couple more running on a rod placed diagonally across the angle
of the wall. The light for the sitting consisted of an electric lamp
under a black box placed on a high shelf in the comer of the room
exactly opposite the cabinet. The front of this box was provided
with a sliding door behind which was red paper. This door was
under the direct control of the medium, being connected with a
black tape which hung down just behind M’s chair. Dr. M. is a
short, red faced man with white hair and blue eyes. He talked to a
A Versatile Medium.
4*
few of the sitters before the seance began and I noticed that he was
very careful to fold his hands over the bottom of his waistcoat as
if to prevent objects from falling out. When a score or so of
guests (men and women) had assembled and had taken their seats,
the medium gave a short address before the lights were turned out.
He reminded us of the persecutions mediums had endured and in-
formed the company that a new name was about to be employed
instead of “ spiritualist," namely, — “ psycho-scientist,” which had
no odium attached to it Owing, he said, to the fact that he had
previously given many sittings at the house of Mr. and Mrs. B.,
and as Mrs. G. had only just moved into her apartment, the idea of
trap doors or confederates was absurd, and there was therefore no
control of any sort whatever.
After these remarks the medium took his seat on the right side
of the cabinet near to the curtain. Three large four foot aluminum
trumpets were placed in close proximity to the opening of the cur-
tain, two being in front, and one, I think, behind. Mrs. G. now
turned on her gramaphone standing near the lamp, but the machine
refused to work, and after the light was lowered Mrs. B. began
singing, the Lord’s Prayer having been previously recited. After a
few hymns a voice appeared to come from one of the trumpets and
was recognized as that of Dr. Holliday, one of the medium's chief
controls. The trumpet was then seen in the dim light to be moving
about around the medium, its polished surface catching the little
light that was allowed in the room. It never seemed to move to a
greater distance than could be reached by means of the medium’s
extended arm, which, clothed as it was in a black sleeve, probably
supported it. Various Indians and guides then spoke through the
trumpet and one of the trumpets was allowed to lie on the floor.
Some of the sitters put their hands into its larger end and felt the
voice pulsating through it. I did this, but could not feel the smaller
end (connected to the medium's mouth in all probability by a rubber
tube) because it always remained either near to the medium or close
to the faithful sitters on either side of the cabinet.
The etherealizations then began. The medium took some yards
of luminous veiling and put his fist under a fold at the top, and
with his other arm and hand in front of the middle part he carried
the cloth out and imitated the heights of various people. Thus when
“ darling little Pansy ” came out (a control) he bent down a little
44 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
and dragged the veiling after him making a smaller figure. When
an Indian came out he held up the doth, etc. “ Dr. Washburn ”
came to me. He was a longish piece of veiling and the medium's
method of bowing the head gave the figure a grave and venerable
appearance. “ Dr. W.” (through the medium’s mouth) said he had
been connected with the American Sodety for Psychical Research
and with the Seybert Commission. He told me that I was a psychic
and would get results from slate writing if I practiced hard enough.
After a few further remarks on my spiritual development, “ Dr. W.”
was withdrawn by the medium and disappeared. As Moore came
out of the cabinet bearing these pieces of veiling he would address
each piece in some such way as this, — " Well Darling, for whom
have you come, whom do you want dear ? ” Then changing his
voice he would whisper out some unintelligible sound, which would
be interpreted as “ Mother," “ Father,” “ Sister ” or “ Brother " by
some innocent sitter, and would score an instant success. The
medium would ejaculate now and then, — “ Did you hear that ? ” and
then he would laugh in a forced manner. “ Harold,” the son of Mr.
and Mrs. B., who had apparently died in the war, came towards the
end. “ Harold ” was a piece of veiling about five feet in length,
which Moore held up and bobbed about in front of his parents.
They recognized their son and conversed with him. He told them
that he would be the pilot who would take them across the river of
Death and made many more observations of a like nature. When
Moore was tired he withdrew “ Harold ” and threw “ him ” behind
the curtain. Then an Italian composer came out of the cabinet
The composer was a piece of veiling similar to “ Harold.” He un-
fortunately was unable to converse in Italian with one of his country-
men who was present. This rather upset Dr. Moore and having
himself grown tired with his little trips to and from the cabinet
carrying his veiling, he sat down and after a few more voices and
instructions from the guides, the sitting closed at 12:15 midnight.
Later in the year Moore came out as First Lecturer of the
First Church of Psycho-Science of New York, holding meetings
in the Magna Chordin Chamber of Music and classes for ethereal-
ization and trumpet work as before. In June or July a member
of the Moore circle, who is well known to the Principal Research
Officer, discussed the phenomena with him and he informed her
A Versatile Medium.
45
that a member of the staff had already seen and condemned the
phenomena as completely fraudulent However he was prepared
to go and judge for himself and asked the lady in question to ask
the manager of the circle whether he could be present. The reply
was in the negative, the reason being that Dr. Prince's " vibra-
tions ” would be injurious to the phenomena. As this helped to
confirm my view of the phenomena we thought it desirable to
visit the circle so as to allow Dr. Prince to observe what took
place. Accordingly we made our arrangements and visited the
circle in Oct. 1921. Dr. Prince went as Mr. B. and I accompanied
him as Mr. X. The following are extracts from Dr. Prince’s
report now in the Society’s files :
REPORT ON HUGH MOORE’S “ ETHEREALIZATIONS”
Mr. Dingwall had already attended once and made a report, and
it seemed desirable that I also should go, so as to get the impressions
of two experienced investigators. Lately he got permission to take
a friend, his connection with this Society not being known.
In the room were gathered, after some twenty minutes delay,
during which Moore conversed, about seventeen persons in all, the
number of women a little larger than that of the men.
When ready, Moore gave an introductory talk, the metal trumpets,
about three feet long, were exhibited, then the room was darkened
until little could be seen, and a bellowing address was made by a
supposed spirit through the horn. Other spirits succeeded, and some-
times seemed to converse with each other, though careful never to
speak two at a time. This part of the proceedings interested me but
little, as it was not possible to prove that spirits were not talking,
and there was not the slightest evidence that they were.
The “ etherealizations ” followed. Only a very dim red light
high up on the wall farthest from the cabinet was allowed, yet this
was sufficient to enable considerable of the outlines of Moore’s figure
to be seen as he came out from time to time accompanied by the
successive spirits, of which there may have been fifteen altogether,
though I took no pains to count them. Always several minutes
elapsed between any two, during which the phonograph was usually
set into squeaky operation.
The first spirit for some time remained near the curtain, and at
that distance the phosphorescent pattern produced and kept in a
-46 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
swaying motion was such that I could imagine its inspiring awe in
an impressionable person. I could as easily imagine a human figure
as I can do the same in the clouds or on wallpaper stains. But as
soon as the apparition advanced all possibility of illusion at once
vanished for me.
It is not worth while to attempt to describe the various spirits in
order. Most of them were much alike. There were some variations
as when the something was surmounted by a “ crown," or where
the appearance was short and near the floor and thus identified as
a child.
There was no pretense that the medium did not at all times
accompany the spirit from the curtain and back to it. I noted the
following interesting particulars.
1. The spirit was always on the medium’s left side.
2. The right shoulder of the spirit, that next the medium, was
always wider than the left, and if one could imagine a human form,
it would be as though its right arm rested on the medium’s arm.
3. At every movement of the medium the spirit’s movements cor-
responded, and synchronized perfectly.
4. The spirit disappeared or nearly so before the cabinet was
entered, by the simple process of the medium turning around and
obscuring it as he entered.
5. The spirits seemed suspended in the air, except for the points
of attachment to the medium, that is, they did not rest upon the floor,
with the exception of the child, which perhaps was not old enough
to float.
6. The spirits practically had but two dimensions, that is they
had little thickness, but this, I understand, was because they were
only etherealized, not fully materialized.
7. But the head sometimes seemed to have appreciable thickness,
as would be the case if the cloth was draped over an erect hand.
So I think the heads must have been partly “ materialized."
8. The spirits frequently nodded their heads as though from a
single hinge in the neck. The exact movement may be imitated by
holding the fist upright and jerking it forward on the wrist joint
a number of times.
A Versatile Medium.
47
9. An arm and hand of the medium were frequently visible
busy with the drapery of the spirits, but the other hand and arm
never moved about or were visible as such.
10. The medium’s right hand was frequently and unmistakably
seen by me, at a distance of less than three feet, back of the
ether ealization, waggling its lower portion to present the appearance
of independent motion, when the medium’s body was still.
11. In short, there was not the slightest doubt in my mind that
there was nothing but a piece of phosphorescent thin cloth draped
over the medium’s arm and hand held unright from the elbow, the
upper part having a more or less bunched appearance, to represent
the head, with sometimes an accessory, as the “ crown.”
12. I was very close to the “ child ” at the time that members
of the circle were uttering ecstatic cries, and all I could see was the
appearance as of luminous cloth the shape of a flat towel. I do not
mean that I could see the texture of the cloth ; that would have been
impossible because the light was insufficient.
I have not the slightest doubt that the illusion, in the case of
those to whom it was an illusion, was produced almost solely by a
variously arranged cloth, sometimes bunched at the upper end where
it passed over the medium’s fist or open hand, and made to move
by the swaying of the medium's own body, or by the direct move-
ments of his hand in contact with it. I could not, even by the utmost
efforts, cause myself to imagine momentarily a human appearance,
unless the medium and his adherent “ etherealization ” was at the
farthest remove in the gloom.
The imposture was the crudest and clumsiest I ever saw, and the
faith of the circle in it is an awful commentary upon the gullibility
of some specimens of human nature.
So much for the report of Dr. Prince, which as will be seen
is in substantial agreement with my former account when Moore
was located in another part of the city. My own independent
report of the seance when I accompanied Dr. Prince is similar to
his.
The following consists of some extracts from it
In October
, 1921, Dr. Walter F. Prince and Mr. Eric J.
48 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Dingwall attended a seance for trumpet and etherealization given by
Hugh Moore under the auspices of the First Church of Psycho-
Science of New York.
Place. Back room, first floor, West 72nd St.
Light. A feeble torch placed in a box shielded with red paper and
placed on a stand at the furthest comer of the room opposite
the cabinet. The front of the box was provided with a sliding
window under the control of the medium.
Control. None.
The seance began as before by a talk from Moore who explained
the phenomena and said the phantoms were not spirits but material-
ized garments within which the souls of the departed manifested.
He regretted the fact that the landlady of the house was nervous
and so the exuberance of Lightfoot (Indian guide) would have to
be curbed as he made too much noise in the trumpet. After the
Lord's Prayer the light was turned down and within a few minutes
a voice was heard in one of the two long metal trumpets provided.
It claimed to be Dr. Holliday, the medium’s chief control and de-
livered a short introduction. Pansy and Lightfoot followed and at
one time several of the sitters were permitted to hold the larger end
of the trumpet whilst the voice was heard within.
Etherealization then began. They were the same as those ob-
served by me in May, 1921, but were even more brazen than be-
fore. The same methods were employed for holding up and bob-
bing the veiling but the medium approached the sitters more closely
so that we were able to see clearly how the cloths were supported.
One piece was brought to me and whispered “ Mr. X.” I said,
“ Sister, is that you ” ? “ Yes,” came back the answer, and I went
on “ Sister Mary.” “ Yes,” it replied and then followed the usual
banal conversation to which I answered in what was, I hope, a suit-
able manner. The son of an old lady on my left then came. He
was a very large strip of cheese cloth and the lady was delighted,
calling him “ darling boy ” and “ my precious.” She told me after-
wards when he had dematerialized that he often came and that she
recognized him “ thoroughly and surely.” Moore then asked who
was the gentleman sitting next to Mr. X and I told him it was Mr. B.
[W. F. P.]. After one more form appeared Moore came out of the
cabinet bearing a large piece of veiling and whispering “ Father B.”
I nudged W. F. P. who whispered “ Mother B,” but they said it was
A Versatile Medium.
49
a man and was his father. A conversation followed in which Father
B. talked with his son saying that he would take him to Summer-
land, etc. Soon after the seance closed.
The phenomena are all undoubtedly fraudulent. Moore is not
even a clever worker, merely carrying backwards and forwards
pieces and strips of veiling, some ornamented with brighter pieces
which form crowns and similar decorations. I never had a sister
Mary nor have I any sister " on the other side.” Moore’s crude
methods are well illustrated by his enquiry as the name of “ Mr. X’s
friend ” which was given as Mr. B. and was almost immediately
followed by the appearance of Father B.
In my opinion Moore’s performance was the most obvious and
audacious piece of trickery that I have ever seen and probably the
worst presented.
Besides etherealizations and trumpet mediumship Mr. Moore
exhibits his versatility by obtaining direct writing in broad light
and before the whole audience at his Sunday evening perform-
ances at 10 East 44th Street. When I saw him the procedure
was somewhat as follows. He showed to the audience a packet
of blank black white-backed sheets of paper which he said had
been magnetized and upon which the spirits would write. He
then exhibited a couple of slates, placed the papers between them
and asked for two lady assistants from the audience. The two
assistants helped him to hold the slates on which were heard
sundry raps and scratches showing that the spirits were at work.
When the slates were opened the black sides of the sheets were
found covered with writing which Moore proceeded to read out.
The writing consisted of messages and lists of names many of
which were recognized by the members of the audience.
The most striking miracle of all, however, was not noticed by
the congregation. Moore had shown only a few sheets before he
put them into the slates, but when they were taken out they had
apparently multiplied and the specimen in the Society’s collec-
tion is numbered 35, the writing being quite clearly done by
ordinary white ink. This strange permanent materialization of
writing paper struck me as a remarkable phenomenon and sug-
gested the possibility that the sheets placed within the slates were
not the same as those first exhibited and that Moore had forgot-
50 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ten to make sure that the numbers were equal. The medium’s
exhibit of direct writing was the clumsiest piece of trickery of
that class that I have seen. There was no pretence of artistic
presentation, the moves were obvious and badly performed and I
was astonished when the results were greeted with enthusiasm,
the audience being delighted at this exhibition of spirit power.
The success of this medium in the heart of New York is a serious
commentary on the state of mind of numbers of its supposedly
educated inhabitants. It might have been thought that after the
numberless exposures of American frauds, people would have
been more cautious before they accepted phenomena, the nature
of which ought to be transparently clear to the meanest intel-
ligence.
It is doubtless a matter of history that spiritualism is apt
to blind the eyes and stop the ears of its devotees, and indeed the
same thing is true of the majority of religious systems. Never-
theless it is the duty of Societies like our own occasionally to
warn persons of the frequency of fraud and of the absolute neces-
sity of requiring scientific conditions before psychic phenomena
are accepted as supernormal.
>0*1
Conversazione.
51
CONVERSAZIONE.
Mr. E. H. Gellot writes us :
“ In Henslow’s * Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism ' there is
shown (opposite page 212) a ' psychograph ’ or supposed photo-
graph of spirit writing, partly in Greek, done in the Crewe circle.
The photograph is faint in spots and the writing, moreover, has
faults which more frequently mark the attempts to copy Greek on
the part of one unfamiliar with that language than one who is con-
versant with it. Hence Archdeacon Colley made ‘ suggested emenda-
tions ’ with this result.
PARA KALO (is) DE (i) GMAS (i)
ADELPHOI, ANECHESTHE TO (n)
OKLON GOETON, ( ?) PARAKALESE
OS K (eruxi) N (?) DIA BRACH (i) ON
(os) EPISTA (menos) UMIN
It is amusing that neither Archdeacon Colley, nor the Rev. Pro-
fessor Henslow, who is his editor, was warned by the occurrence
of the Greek words for ‘ exhort ’ and ‘ exhortation ’ to consult his
Concordance of the Bible, even if not very familiar with the Epistle
to the Hebrews, when he would within five minutes have discovered
that the passage is from Hebrews 13 :22.
PARAKALO DE UMAS, ADELPHOI,
ANECHESTHE TOU LOGOU TAS
PARAiCLASEOS KAI GAR DIA
BRACHEON EPESTEILA UMIN.
The Archdeacon translated his version thus :
* By means of excellent proofs, brothers, bear up against the
crowd of howlers. Exhort (as by heralds) with the arm (“up-
lifted ”) in a way well known to you.’
Who could doubt the application or question its appropriateness ?
It was plainly a message of defiance to all cavillers against the
Crewe Circle.
But the translation (Revised Version) of the unemended pas-
sage is comparatively tame.
* But I exhort you, brethren, hear the word of exhortation ; for
I have written unto you in few words.' ”
One wonders, when he finds gentlemen so ingenious and yet so
wofully in error, regarding a problem of no great difficulty within
l.j |C
52 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
their particular province,- whether in other matters relating to the
Crewe phenomena, they may not, forgetful of the maxim “ sutor ne
supra crepidam judicaret,” by an equally perverted ingenuity have
reached conclusions at variance with the facts.
L. R. F. B.
You are puzzled why descriptions of the “ other world,” if
veridical, are so “ mediaeval in tone, mawkish, priggish, and irritat-
ingly oracular " and so apparently fitted for “ sapheads."
Granting that such descriptions come from the genuine desire of
spirits to communicate about the conditions that surround him, I
conceive that he might have two main difficulties.
1. To get what he is really trying to say through. There is some
evidence that in order to get facts regarding this world, unknown
to the psychic, through, it is necessary to do it, in part by stirring up
associations and memory images in her mind, and then to arrange
or modify these. But the psychic has had no experience in the con-
ditions of any other world than this. And the nearest analogues in
some respects might be very distant ones in other respects.
2. To convey ideas of a satisfactory sort regarding another
world, even though the spirit was able to dictate every word of the
message. Suppose one could reason with a wolf, how would it be
possible to make it realize that there could be satisfaction in reading
books or in studying geology ?
There is nothing particularly staggering from the philosophical
standpoint in the idea that the next life is a subjective one in which
" objects ” themselves are apprehended to be thought-forms, — we
simply cannot, by virtue of our limitations here, make this seem real.
Miss A. Y. has been listening to a lecture which she says was de-
livered by a man with a reputation as a psychologist, attached to a
University.
“ At one stage of his talk he showed on the screen what he
termed examples of “automatic memory.” Two of these pictures
were evidently reproductions from the Proceedings of the A. S. P. R.
article by the late Dr. Hyslop on the Thompson-Gifford case. The
pictures in question were the two in which are shown three trees.
Conversazione.
53
one by the artist [Gifford] himself, and the other due to “ automatic
memory” [of Thompson], There was no reference whatever to the
source of these pictures nor to the article nor any reference or clue
to what they related.
The reproduction of these two pictures from the Proceedings
detached from any explanation or subject matter whatever, with no
single word of reference to the conditions, is grossly misleading and
unfair. It seems to me a dastardly mean and contemptible thing to
detach these two reproductions, with no single reference as to their
origin, and label them examples of “ automatic memory.”
Not so much heat, dear lady. Have you not learned that it
passes as quite respectable where certain matters are debated, to
counter evidence with bare assertions unsupported by no particular
evidence whatever? It was illegitimate for the artist's widow to
testify that Thompson could never have seen her husband's picture
of the trees before Mr. Thompson produced his near replica! He
must have seen it, therefore he did. If readers will look at Figure
XVIII in Proceedings. Vol. Ill, representing the original picture by
Gifford, and at Figure XVII, representing the Thompson drawing,
they may think it quite a feat of “ automatic memory.” The writer
knows nothing but what Dr. Hyslop tells him in the report, but,
in preference to the psychologist’s theory in the form of a dictum,
would suggest that Mr. Thompson burglarized the house at mid-
night, copied the picture at leisure, and returned it while Mrs.
Gifford was at breakfast ! I have no evidence for this theory and it
seems an improbable one, but the same is true of the learned psy-
chologist’s ex cathedra declaration.
G. W. K. writes as follows :
** I have been reading the Journal for two years and I am
prompted to say I go to it for bread but often get stones. May I
ask, are you so limited in good material, real spirit evidence, that you
are obliged to fill the Journal with criticisms of evidence that is not
evidential, etc. I can find plenty of this without taking the trouble
to look for it, much less pay for it What I want, and I doubt not
I am like many others, is positive evidence of real spirit communica-
tions, not exposures of fraud and unevidential stuff, of which I
know, as everybody knows, there is a great abundance. * * * Be-
lieve me I write this with only the best intentions and with a sincere
54 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
desire to see the Society accomplish that for which it is founded or
which it claims there is good evidence for.”
Such letters are welcome, though the criticisms of one person
frequently negate those of another. This shows that if our sole
desire was to please our members we could not please them all, no
matter what we published.
But the correspondent is in error. The Society was not founded
in order to establish spiritistic conclusions, but to investigate certain
classes of phenomena. Neither is the Society committed to any
position, though some individuals prominently connected with it are
personally convinced that spirit communication has been proved.
Others are not convinced. And none of them are empowered to
speak in the name of the Society. Even Dr. Hyslop, who was con-
vinced, as a rule did not make a verdict for his readers in connection
with his reports of cases.
It is the wish of the present editor to help educate a group, more
or less numerous, of persons who may be able properly to estimate
evidence, and to encourage in them a desire to investigate and report
cases in a manner that shall be scientifically adequate. Our articles
dealing with unevidential stuff explain in detail why they are un-
evidential, and the articles demonstrating fraud are not primarily
for the purpose of exposing individuals, but for training readers to
discriminate between the fraudulent and the genuine, which is a
thing that many intelligent persons fail in for the lack of such
training.
>0*1
Book Reviews.
55
BOOK REVIEWS.
Problems of Mediumship. By AllESSAndro Zymonidas. Pp. XXV. 252.
London; New York, 1920.
This volume is not written for psychical researchers. It concerns
those only who are convinced that man has a soul which survives the
death of the body and who desire to hold communion with the spirit
world. The author has a minute knowledge of conditions on “ the other
side ” and his warnings will doubtless be heeded by those who believe
that this information is trustworthy. His description of the elementals
is particularly horrific and we should not care to see the “ vampires ”
who “ may be seen drifting round a graveyard and hovering over the
graves, as do the ghouls also. These absorb the inferior vital essence
that is evaporating from the dead bodies; and, as they absorb it, they
may be seen to swell up into bulbs — big transparent forms that drink in
the vital fluids”... (p. 220). They are not allowed, however, to enjoy
their repast for they are soon “ absorbed by some stray vampire that
comes drifting there in search of its nightly supply.”
We are glad that “ a thunderstorm will kill "these elementals in
crowds " and that “ electricity is a useful agent in destroying them.”
Perhaps the General Electric Company will take the matter up.
E. J. D.
Spiritism and Religion. " Can you talk to the deadf’’ Including a
study of the most remarkable cases of spirit control. By Baron J.
LiljEncranTs. Pp. 296. New York, 1918.
In the introduction to this volume the author remarks that it is the
theological side of the inquiry into spiritism that he proposes to pursue
in the pages that follow, and in the preface, over the signature of the
Catholic University of America, it is stated that the book has been writ-
ten in the attempt to adjust the theological verdict on spiritism. We
shall, however, be disappointed if we expect to find any reasoned and
careful statements and arguments which help to define the attitude of the
Church towards psychic phenomena. Of nine chapters, two only can be
properly said to deal almost exclusively with the question of spiritism as
related to religion, and these two chapters are quite the least interesting
in the book. Dr. Liljencrants has given us a good survey of the history
of modern spiritism and a careful, although perhaps slightly over
sceptical account of the physical phenomena. In his treatment of mental
phenomena he naturally leans to the side of the telepathic hypothesis as
an escape from spirits, although his acquaintance with the literature
does not seem full enough to enable him to make use of many incidents
which would lend colour to his theory. Generally speaking the book
gives us the impression of having been written by a person who had
come to definite conclusions, but owing to external pressure he has
been obliged to substitute the conclusions of others for his own. In the
case of the physical phenomena he seems always glad to be able to fall
56 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
back on some of the wilder theories of Podmore and when there is no
such critic handy he discreetly omits any mention of the case in point
as if he were afraid of trusting to his own judgment. Thus he deals
boldly with the S. P. R. Naples Report on Palladino with Podmore
leading him by the hand but is silent on the subject of Baron von
Schrenck-Notzing’s experiments although Materialisations-Phonomene
appears in the bibliography.
As an account of the phenomena of spiritism the book is distinctly
better than that usually written by ecclesiastics, but we cannot con-
gratulate the author on his feeble defence of religious opinion nor can
we understand why he has chosen such curious sub-titles to his work.
E. J. D.
Purpose and Transcendentalism. An Exposition of Swedenborg’s Phi-
losophical Doctrines *n Relation to Modern Thought. Bv H. Stanley
Redgrove. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. Pp. 170.
The admirers of Emanuel Swedenborg make such sweeping claims
for his work as a seer in many branches of science as well as philosophy
that many thoughtful people have had a persistent desire to read his
works, but have been deterred by their many volumes of verbosity and
vagueness. This little book should serve a useful purpose in stating
briefly the basic application of Swedenborg’s principal philosophical
doctrines to modern science. The six chapters treat successively of the
doctrine of degrees, symbolism, ontology, physics, biology and ethics.
The doctrine of influx, explained in the chapter on ontology, is
particularly interesting in its mathematical illustration which is cog-
nate with Matter, Spirit and Cosmos, by the same author. He finds a
reconciliation of creationism and evolution by conceiving of them as
a two dimensional extension — one extension representing time as the
argument of evolution, the other being an infinite number of perpen-
diculars thereto along which creative power is carried and made manifest
at their intersection.
Geo. H. Johnson.
Spiritualism in the Bible. By E. W. and M. H. Wallis, 83 Stanhope
Ave., N. 3, London. Undated. Pp. 104.
This is a commendable little book, evidencing sanity, logic and com-
mon-sense. It is written by professed Spiritualists, but avoids the faults
frequently found in books written from that standpoint. It equally
steers clear of shady modern claims and of attempting unduly to force
Biblical passages into Spiritualistic moulds. The claim is made out,
and it is a wonder that anyone can question it, that there is recorded in
the Bible much phenomena which is akin to phenomena of our own day.
Indeed, ancient and modern claims in this field must stand or fall
together. The prophet mediums, the nature of “ angels,” the Endor
seances, the psychic powers of Jesus, the spiritual (occult) experiences
of Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul, Biblical and modern psychic phenom-
ena, are some of the topics discussed. If the authors had been Ameri-
cans they doubtless would have declined to quote from Moses Hull, but
most of the citations are judiciously selected.
W. F. P.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rr. Hon. A. J. Balfour, London,
England.
Rt. Hon. Gerald W. Balfour,
Woking, England.
Prof. Six Wm. F. Barrett, London,
England.
Viscount James Bryce, Forest Row,
England.
•Sir William Crookes, London,
England.
Dr. Charles L. Dana, New York.
Prof. Max Dessoir, Berlin, Germany.
Prof. George Dumas, Paris, France.
Camille Flam marion, Juvisy, France.
•Prof. Th. Flournoy, Geneva, Swit-
zerland.
Prof. Sigmund Freud, Vienna,
Austria.
Prof. Pierre Janet, Paris, France.
Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chancellor
Stanford University, CaL
Prof. C. G. Jung, Kussnach, Switzer-
land.
Sir Oliver J. Lodge, Birmingham,
England.
Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Paris, France.
Prof. William McDougall, Oxford
University, England.
Dr. Frederick Peterson, New York.
Dr. Morton Prince, Boston, Mass.
•Lord Rayleigh, Witham, England.
Prop. Charles Richet, Paris, France.
Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
Prof. Freiherr Von Schrenck-
Notzing, Munich, Germany.
Dr. Boris Sidis, Portsmouth, N. H.
Mr. C. J. Wilson, Dublin, Ireland.
HONORARY MEMBERS
Prof. H. Beaunis, Le Cannet, France.
Prof. Edouard Clap a rede, Geneva,
Switzerland.
Cesar de Vesme, Paris, France.
Hon. Everard Feildinc, London,
England.
Camille FLAMMARiON.Juvisy, France.
Prop. A. Forel, Yvorne, Switzerland.
Prof. J. Grasset, Montpelier, France.
Dr. Paul Joirs, Beauvais, France.
Dr. P. L. Lada me, Geneva, Switzer-
land.
Prof. Albert Moll, Berlin, Germany.
Prof. Enrico Morselu, Genoa, Italy.
•Prop. J. Ochorovics, Warsaw,
Russia.
Mr. J. G. Piddington, Woking, Eng-
land.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D., New York.
Dr. Bonjour de Rachewsky, Lau-
sanne, Switzerland.
•Mr. A. P. Sinnett, London, Eng-
land.
HONORARY ASSOCIATE
Dr. Sydney AlruTz, Upsala, Sweden.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
Prof. A. C Armstrong, Middletown, Prof. John Dewey, Columbia Uni-
Conn. versity, New York City.
Da. G. V. N. Dearborn, Cambridge, Plfop. J. Gibson Hume, Toronto,
Maas. Canada.
Prop. Adolf Meyer, M. D., Baltimore, Md.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THB
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corporation and is supported by contributions from ita members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on ita scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute is perpetual
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The form which such dedication
should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
draft.
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR THB AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
Research, a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, die sum
of dollars,* in trust, however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,! a branch of
said corporation, and for ita purposes only."
* In cun the bequest it real estate, or other specific items of property, they should be
sufficiently described for identification.
t In cue tbe donor desires the funds used for Psycho-therapeutics this should read:
“ In trust, however, for the benefit of its branch for the investigation of Psych*-
therapeutics end for such purposes only.”
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. February, 1922 No. 2
CONTENTS
PACE
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
Meeting of Advisory Scientific Council; This Number of the
Journal . • .57
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Psychic Phenomena. By James H. Hyslop .... 59
“Spiritualism and the New Psychology.” By Walter F. Prince . 72
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist. By E. J. Dingwall . . 99
INCIDENTS:
Apparent Communication (Illustrated). Reported by Mrs. Janet
D. Schenck 104
BOOK REVIEWS:
The Immortality of Animals and the Relation of Man as Guardian,
from a Biblical and Philosophical Hypothesis (E. D. Buck-
ner, M. D.); Spiritualism. A Personal Experience and A
Warning (Coulson Kernahan) Ill
Published Monthly by the American Society for Psychical Research.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 28rd St, New York, N. Y.
Printed hy the York Printing Company. 12-26 South Water St, York. Pa.
Changes of Address should be sent to the A. S. P. R., at the York, Pa., Address.
Entered as second-class matter, July 10, 1017, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March 6, 1670.
Annual Pee, 16.60. Single Copies, 60 cents. Foreign Fee, £L la.
.uder
- Lligititeil t.y Vj OP^ Ic
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol . . Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio. Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D.,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M-A., Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D, Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D, New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D, Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D, San Diego, CaL
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M, Smith Col
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, FA.A.S., New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempfpert, B.S, LL.B,
New York. N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York. N. Y.
Morton Prince. M.D, LL.D, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D„
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University,
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D. Lawson Purdy.
Miles M. Dawson.
TituS v
VOLUME XVI— No. 8
FEBRUARY, 1888
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT: 57
GENERAL ARTICLES :
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
By James H. Hyalop ... 59
"Spiritualism and the New PsychaJ*
ogy/’ By Walter F. Prince 7t
Pi
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist. By
E. J. Ding wail Pi
INCIDENTS: 104
BOOK REVIEW8 .... Ill
The responsibility for etatements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer's true name
is withheld, it is preserved on file, and ia that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
Meeting of Advisory Scientific Council.
The third meeting of the Council was held the last Friday
evening in December at the Century Club, Messrs. McDougall.
Dawson, Gardiner, Holt, Kaempffert, Morton Prince and W. F.
Prince being present. A report on experiments was given and
these and other matters pertinent to investigation were discussed.
The meeting lasted nearly five hours, which perhaps is a measure
of its interest.
The attendance seems small, but one important fact is to be
considered. The attendance of the Council of the English S. P.
R., which is the governing body, as that of the A. S. P. R. is
not, appears to average between 10 and 11. But of its 22 mem-
bers, 21 live within 100 miles of the place of meeting, while only
9 of the 20 members of the American Council live within 100
miles, the rest varying all the way to 2500 miles. A colossal
land has its disadvantages.
This Number of the Journal.
This issue is largely filled by two criticisms of books, one of
them a book shallow and illogical in its skepticism, the other a
CjOiVJIO
58 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
book which its reviewer regards as unguarded in the direction
of credulity.
The influence upon the public of books relating to psychical
research is enormous, and unfortunately those of greatest
scientific value are less read than others. On the one hand,
people are deceived by high-sounding names and titles and by
ex cathedra deliverances into supposing that all the alleged phe-
nomena which we are engaged in studying have been found out,
determined and blown into thin air. They need to be shown how
shallow are such pretensions, how defective the knowledge, feeble
the logic and unfair the methods that cooperate to reach such a
conclusion. On the other hand there are books which err in the
other direction, and these are more embarrassing. Their authors
may have become convinced by good evidence, but, like Lom-
broso, once convinced their vigilance has relaxed, until in some
cases they are willing to include with their unsuspected “ evi-
dences ” the doings of impostors whose guile has been exposed
and whose methods are known.
Let it not be supposed that any personal feeling is involved
in such discussions. The writers of the books are but types to
the reviewers, and it is their modes of forming their opinions,
and of reasoning to convince others, which are criticized. If
anyone can convict our writings of similar faults, we are willing
to take our medicine meekly. And it is our ever-disap]K>inted
yet ever-persistent hope that some one will produce an informed,
fair and logical argument for an explanation of any phenomena
for which this Journal has ever shown respect, excluding telepa-
thy, spiritism or any other “ supernormal ” hypothesis. It shall
be our leading article.
To us discussion of these topics has the interest of a game,
and there seems to be no reason why there should be ill-feeling
connected with it. It is a logical game, and may be carried on
without either of the parties necessarily avowing conversion to
spiritism. The stakes may be whether those who equally reject
spiritism, telepathy and clairvoyance have really at their com-
mand resources for another explanation which will cover the
facts. And one wishes to be able some time to play with someone
who shows he has expert knowledge of the particular game and
one who plays squarely, according to the rules of the game.
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
59
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND CHRISTIANITY.
By James H. Hyslop.
The New Testament has many indications of the presence of
psychic phenomena in connection with the origin and early
progress of Christianity. Prior history will show that these
phenomena were not so new in general character as most people
think, and this preparatory history should be consulted in all
attempts to understand the interest which the facts roused in the
Apostolic period.
Two things are to be considered as affecting the state of mind
before Christ appeared. The first is Jewish history, and the
second is the effect of Greek philosophy. Both of these are sug-
gested in words of St. Paul, “ the Jews ask a sign [a miracle]
and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” (I Corinthians 1 :22.) Here
he characterized the two types of mind of that time perfectly.
The intellectual tendencies of both offered the temptation to meet
the demand in the way to satisfy it. Politically the Jewish mind
had sought salvation in a temporal king and had for ages turned
away from what mediumship might have promised under proper
study. The persecutions of “ witches ” reveal the attitude of the
ecclesiastical authorities, and yet the story' of the Woman of
Endor shows what was going on among the common people. It
is probable that the whole higher movement for Hebrew mono-
theism had been inspired by the necessity of ridding the masses
of fetishism and animism. Hence the attack on witchcraft
which, in the form which it had among savages and uncivilized
people, resulted in superstition and gross immorality. In some
way it had to be eradicated, and philosophy and religion com-
bined to effect this object, using the civil code for the purpose.
But just to that extent did they tend to deprive the popular mind
of its belief in a spiritual world beyond death.
Greek philosophy had the same tendency. The attack of
Xenophanes on polytheism was for the purpose of establishing
a monotheistic point of view. Polytheism had always favored
belief in survival, and the oracles, whether genuine or fraudulent,
60 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had fostered it. But with the growth of intelligence the oracles
declined, and philosophy terminated in the materialism of Epi-
curus and Lucretius, Neo-Platonism endeavored to maintain a
more spiritualistic conception of the cosmos, tho compromising
it with philosophic idealism. But at no time did Neo-Platonism
succeed in dominating general thought. It was too speculative,
too far removed from the common understanding, and too un-
congenial to the scientific tendencies of many minds. Hence the
Epicureans obtained the hold of the reflective spirits of the age.
Materialism became the prevalent mode of thought.
A fundamental feature of that materialism was that it
denied the immortality of the soul. Strange to say, it admitted
the existence of a soul, an etherial or refined material organism.
But it asserted, nevertheless, that it perished with the body. On
one point, it touched the springs of polytheism: it admitted the
existence of the gods, whom we could see in our dreams, but it
placed them in the intermundium, a place between the worlds,
and gave them no power whatever over human or physical
events. It sought the explanation of all events in physical causes.
Both the Neo-Platonic and the materialistic philosophy had
their influence on Judaistic thought. The evidence of this is in
Philo Judseus and the doctrine of the Logos before the time
ascribed to the teachings of Christ, and in the controversy be-
tween the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the former believing in
the resurrection, and the latter denying it, as agnostics or ma-
terialists. Both of these sects had their political interests
affected by their respective attitudes toward the traditional
Hebrew religion. But the Jews were so involved, perhaps
fanatically, in the Messianic politics, that they showed less en-
thusiasm for philosophy than the Greeks and Romans, and their
Messianic ideas were bound up with their religion, while religion
did not affect the political and philosophic life of Greece and
Rome so distinctly and only in the way of statecraft or political
utility and prudence.
The two fundamental things in primitive Christianity relating
to our theme were the doctrine of the resurrection and the
“ miracle.” The story of Christ’s birth hardly concerns the
present issue. The resurrection and “ miracles ” are of chief
interest in defining early Christianity, the one expressing a
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
61
philosophic doctrine, and the other meeting a demand which St.
Paul said was characteristic of the Jews: namely, for a sign or
supernormal proof. Immortality had not been a dominant note
of Judaism, and many would say that it was not held at all. But
the way in which such terms as Hades, Gehenna and Sheol are
sometimes used, and certain passages in the later writers of the
Old Testament, indicate that it was thought of and perhaps
widely believed, but was not characteristic of Judaism as it came
to be of Christianity.
Anyone who thinks that Christ’s resurrection or the story of
it was the first source of the Christian belief in immortality has
slight acquaintance with the New Testament. The utmost that
could be claimed for the event ascribed to Christ was that it was
evidence of a view already held. The whole problem of immor-
tality was worked out in philosophic thought before any real or
alleged event of the resurrection of Christ was told. This is most
clearly shown in the controversy between the Pharisees and
Sadducees and in one or two other incidents in the New Testa-
ment. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection : the Sadducees
denied it, and the whole matter had been discussed long before.
How did this probably come about ?
It is worth noting that in early classical literature the Greek
word for “ resurrection,” both in the substantive and in the
verbal form, was used to denote rising from the dead. It is
found at least three times in Homer’s Iliad, three times in
/Eschylus, once in Herodotus, and once in Sophocles, and per-
haps many times elsewhere. But these suffice to show that the
idea of the resurrection antedated Christianity a long time, and
it perhaps took a less objectionable form than the resurrection of
the physical body. But that aside, the main point is that the idea
did not arise with the event ascribed to Christ, but was even a
well established belief in his time prior to his own death, and
represented a scientific reply to Epicureanism.
Ancient materialism was inconsistent in admitting the ex-
istence of a soul, tho denying its survival. Its doctrine of the
etherial organism enabled opponents to suppose that survival
came under the general hypothesis of the persistence of matter,
the ether being nothing more or less than a fine type of matter.
Then the existence of apparitions or ghosts, on any theory of
62 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
them, would naturally be' explained by the theory of the etherial
body. All that the advocates of survival would have to do would
be to appeal to the common belief in ghosts and the sceptical
Sadducees would have to discredit the alleged facts in order to
escape the conclusion. If they had not admitted the existence of
a soul, they would not be bound by either the facts or the in-
terpretation of them. Later materialism took that course. It
interpreted consciousness as the function of the organism, not a
manifestation of a soul, and hence could resort to hallucination
and all sorts of explanations of apparitions. But the age in
which the doctrine of the resurrection arose was not so nice and
so discriminating in its doubts of the facts as we are today, and
so apparitions obtained a more easy credence. The recognition
of them, assuming them to represent some sort of reality other
than hallucination, would offer a strong ad hominem argument
against materialism and be a most natural support of survival
after death. The Pharisees evidently took this view of the case,
and the Sadducees, being the Jewish materialists of the day,
denied the doctrine.
Hence the intellectual atmosphere was quite prepared, so to
speak, for a story of the resurrection. It was not a new doctrine
and only a well attested fact of return or appearance after death
would be required to offer a point of attack on materialism,
whether it went by that name or not. The situation was ripe for
the assertion of immortality on the premises of materialism, and
whether the persons who did affirm it did so from philosophic
interest or clear knowledge of this issue makes no difference.
The ground was prepared and the general consensus of ideas
made it an easy step. The appearance of Christ after death as an
apparition was sufficient to spring the issue, to give a new im-
pulse to the doctrine of a future life, and to make him the hero of
its origin, especially in connection with his ethical and spiritual
teaching. The evidence is clear that people were familiar with
apparitions and similar coincidental phenomena, but these were
not associated with a lofty ethical teacher, as in this instance,
and, while they betokened survival, they did not tend to signify
Messianic and other interests.
I have remarked that the “ miracles ” were the second class
of phenomena on which Christianity rested. Not all of these
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
63
had a psychic interest. Some of them were purely physical
marvels and not even of the type that has received the attention
of psychic researchers. The majority of them, however, were
phenomena of healing and have a psychic character. With others
the psychic researcher is perfectly familiar and to these I shall
first appeal to prove that Christianity was integrally associated
with psychic phenomena.
The first instance of which mention can be made is the story
of the Transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elias.
Matthew XVII, verses 1 to 13 inclusively. Here we have alleged
phenomena with which we are perfectly familiar in mediumistic
experiences, experimental and spontaneous. Apparitions often
or usually occur without any transfiguration. But modifications
of the face both in respect of the muscles and the appearance in
respect to light have been noticed. It matters not if these are
illusions or hallucinations in the observer, they are experiences
which may be described as transfigurations, and they suggest
what may have occurred on the occasion under review. Nor does
it make any difference if the whole story is a myth. The point is
that such phenomena as apparitions, hallucinations or not, have
to occur in order to give rise even to myths. The fabrication has
to Ije based upon some sort of fact. That creates a theory,
however distorted it may be. Even the conjurer has to imitate
some experience in order to produce his illusion. Hence, regard-
less of the question whether the story of Moses and Elias appear-
ing on this occasion be true or not, it represents what was
believed in that age, and this statement is corroborated by other
incidents in the New Testament, in which it is said that the
people thought John the Baptist was one of the prophets risen
from the dead. They were accustomed to interpreting certain
phenomena in this manner, whatever their real character —
imagination, illusion or hallucination.
The second instance to be noted is that of Christ walking on
the water. (Matthew XIV, 22-26; Mark VI, 46-52; and John
VI, 17-21.) Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts say that the dis-
ciples thought it was a spirit, showing an interpretation more
consistent with normal experience than the hypothesis of his
physical presence in such a place, and clearly indicating familiar-
ity with the real or alleged phenomena of apparitions.
64 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
The next is St. Paul’s vision on the way to Damascus, which
resulted in his conversion to Christianity. The three accounts of
it are not perfectly consistent in all details, but are so in the main
features. And it is probably the best authenticated incident of
the kind in the New Testament, supported by the authority of St.
Paul himself. Most of the other incidents are second-hand. St.
Paul saw a light and did not recognize the cause of it until he
heard the voice which claimed to be that of Jesus. In one account
St. Paul seems to have been the only person who heard the voice ;
in another, those with him heard a voice but saw no one. In the
third, which St. Paul tells, these persons did not hear the voice
but saw the light. In all, St. Paul saw the light and heard the
voice, two of the accounts purporting to be by himself.
Here again we have the phenomenon of an apparition, visual
and auditory, a case of combined clairvoyance and clairaudience
illustrating the phenomena of sensory automatisms. These
suffice to show us how a story of the resurrection might arise and
how a theory of it might exist before it was applied to Christ,
and so represent not an exceptional, but a common and familiar
fact. But we have the main incidents of the New Testament in
this respect revealing the existence of the phenomena which
naturally appeared miraculous or supernatural to the observers,
and which, whatever you call them, have been verified in thous-
ands of instances in modem times ; and religion and science, both
in mortal combat, hold out against their significance! Or disre-
gard the connection between them and New Testament times.
The visions at the resurrection, authentic or not, belong to the
same category. The experience of the disciples on the way to
Emmaus is a specially interesting one. It has more superficial
evidence of its genuineness than some others, because the most
natural way for an inventor of such a story to put it would be to
have the apparition recognized. There are some features about
it that suggest invention : namely, the incident of Christ’s eating
to prove that it was a physical resurrection. (Compare Luke
XXIV, 13-44. ) But the circumstance that it seemed at first to be
a mere voice and then a visible but unrecognized person involves
an uneconomic process in the invention of a miracle. The most
natural course would be to make it a clear apparition at once.
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
65
But what we actually have is the story of the appearance of the
dead clairaudiently and clairvoyantly experienced.
There was an incident in Christ’s life that illustrated another
phase of psychic phenomena, I refer to his conversation with the
woman at the well. (Compare John IV, 7-29.) As the story is
told, he met an entire stranger and discovered clairvoyantly, or
better, perhaps, mediumistically, that she had had five husbands
and that the man she was then living with was not her husband.
She at once recognized him as a prophet, which indicates that
psychic power was supposed to characterize the prophets. The
same phenomenon occurs with our modem mediums constantly,
in connection with experimental incidents recorded at the time,
not spontaneous incidents depending on the memory for their
integrity. Here again, then, we find Christ in the role of a
psychic in phenomena, the type of which is perfectly familiar
with us and verifiable experimentally, whether you choose to
explain it by telepathy or spiritistic intervention.
The day of pentecost should be added to the list for its
peculiar character. The phenomena which occurred on that
occasion are now often named glossolalia, or speaking with
tongues, the name applied to the phenomena reported in Acts II,
1-13. Usually in modem times the phenomena get no further
than nonsense syllables. But in a more definite form they appear
in the case of mediums who use a language which they have
never learned or communicate, perhaps only a few words, in a
language unknown to them. On the day of pentecost it was said
that people of all nations met together and each nation heard his
own language spoken by persons who did not know it. The
account begins with an allusion to the " sound of a rushing,
mighty wind from heaven,” a phenomenon that is often re-
marked in the seance room or in connection with psychic ex-
periences, only the experience would not be described in such
strong terms. Probably or possibly there may be some exagger-
ation in this phrase and in other descriptive features, but
whether credible or not, the events alleged are of a type with
which we are familiar to some extent in modem psychic
experiences.
The most conspicuous phenomena of the New Testament
bearing upon the issue here are the “ miracles ” of healing. We
66 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
hear, or did hear the last and previous centuries, a great deal
about " miracles ” in general as the attestation of the divine in
the gospel and in nature. But I do not know an author on Evi-
dences who called especial attention to the practical aspect of the
“miracles” or to the predominance of spiritual healing among
them. Interest seems to be concentrated on the more remark-
able instances of contravening the laws of nature and the prag-
matic side finds little attention. Perhaps this was due to the
interest men came to have in a speculative rather than a prac-
tical creed. The latter requires more sacrifice of personal am-
bitions and desires than a creed about the past. But however
this may be, primitive Christianity was concerned more with
ethics and healing than with cosmology or theology, and as the
“ miracles.” purporting to set aside speculative materialism,
affected those points of view they became the chief object of
interest. But it would have been better for the church to have
concentrated on ethical organization and spiritual healing as did
Christ and the apostles.
The Gospel of Matthew mentions 18 cases of healing, the
withering of the fig tree. Christ walking on the water, the Trans-
figuration, and the Resurrection. Luke mentions 20 instances of
healing, the appearance of Christ on the way to Emmaus, the
raising of Lazarus, and the Transfiguration, and some appari-
tional incidents connected with the Resurrection. John mentions
4 cases of healing, the raising of Lazarus, and Christ walking on
the water. The Acts of the Apostles mentions 2 instances of
healing, the vision and rescue of Peter from prison, and the
incidents connected with the conversion of St. Paul. After
these the whole subject of healing and “ miracles ” seems to have
been dropped. The Epistle to the Romans mentions none of
them as narrative events, and the later parts of the New Testa-
ment are as clear of them as the literature that marks the decline
of " miracles ” in later ages. They are practically confined to
the four Gospels, as the statistical account shows.
I shall call attention to only two instances of healing which
reflect very clearly, one of them the process and the other the
fact of healing at a distance. The first instance was the raising
of Jairus’s daughter. Mark's account (V. 22-43) is fuller than
that of Matthew (IX, 18-26) and Luke (VIII, 49-56). A ruler
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
67
came and said his daughter lay at the point of death and asked
Christ to heal her. Before Christ could respond, someone came
and told the father that it was too late and that his daughter was
already dead. But Christ went with him and turned out all those
in the room and took the father and mother with Peter, James
and John into the room, and told them that the child was not
dead but sleeping. He then simply awakened her from the trance
or comatose condition by “ suggestion.” The whole process of
removing the mourners and taking in with him those whose pres-
ence might be helpful and diagnosing it as trance simulating
death, and then by simple suggestion restoring the child, would
recall the Nancy and Salpetriere work, and also much of the
work in the Emmanuel Movement.
The second instance is in John IV, 46-54. A nobleman came
to Christ to have his son cured, requesting Christ to come
quickly. Christ simply answered : " Go thy way ; thy son liveth.”
When he arrived home, he found his son better and improving.
He asked the servants when this happened, and they replied that
it was about the seventh hour. This coincided with the time that
Christ had told the nobleman his son would get well. Here we
have the coincidence in time observed and recorded by the father
as proof of the cure. Besides, it should be noticed that it was
absent treatment, a phenomenon with which we are familiar
today, tho instances of it have not been collected in such a way
as is desirable. There were several other instances in the New
Testament of absent cure. Mark VII, 24-30, and Luke VII,
1-10 are records of it.
We have a fair indication in modem times in what we know
of mental healing of what probably occurred in these early times.
Medicine no longer questions the value of suggestion and mental
healing, and many remarkable cures have occurred which ortho-
dox medicine would not believe until forced by the facts to do so.
I have no doubt that the narratives of them in the New Testa-
ment are exaggerated, as they often are today. The extremely
brief accounts of what took place show the influence of interpre-
tation rather than a scientific observation and record of the facts.
For instance, compare the case of the demoniac from the tombs.
Matthew (VIII, 28) states that there were two of them who
came from the tombs. Mark (V, 2) says one , and Luke (VIII,
68 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
27) also says one. But in general the accounts fairly agree, as
they might well do if they have all been taken from a single
source or Gospel which has been lost. But the fact that there
seems to have been no mythopoeic tendency regarding the heal-
ing of the Apostles, which almost wholly declined in their lives,
is so much in favor of some sort of truth in the stories about
Christ's cures. It is probable that the Apostles were chosen for
their psychic power. St. Paul showed it in the fact of his vision
on the way to Damascus. The Apostles who saw Christ after
his death, interpreting the Resurrection after the example of
apparitions, for instance, on the way to Emmaus, had to be
psychic to have these experiences. But they were probably in-
ferior in power to Christ and apparently the “ miracles ” of heal-
ing rapidly disappeared. The phenomena of mediumistic healing
are plentiful today. They have not been scientifically investi-
gated as yet, either to see what can be done, or to ascertain the
nature of it. But those familiar with the process can recognize a
probable verification of what took place in the New Testament
times. Lecky thinks that the belief in “ miracles,” including
those of spiritual healing, gradually declined because of the
growth in physical knowledge and general scientific intelligence.
This was no doubt a factor in the disappearance of them. But
this would hardly have occurred if the healing had continued as
in the early times, or had been systematically investigated and
applied. Salvation gradually became a matter of a theological
creed and philosophy took hold of Christianity and enfeebled
its pragmatic tendencies, and this, with the disuse of healing
powers, whether for good or bad reasons, had as much to do with
the decline of healing as any change in scientific knowledge.
One more idea may be mentioned : it is that of Angels. We
have come to look at that term as denoting a spiritual being with-
out any implication of its function or activity. But its original
meaning was that of a Messenger and in religious parlanoe it
came to mean a messenger between the dead and the living. This
was the Old Testament conception decidedly, and only the dis-
appearance from Christian thought of intercommunication be-
tween the living and the dead deprived the term of its older
signification. The term had a meaning even in Homer,
Herodotus, and Sophocles which connected it with psychic phe-
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
69
nomena, so that the loss of this import is the loss of its original
meaning. Such a significance is clearly indicated in Acts XII, 15.
Speaking of the appearance of Peter when they thought him in
prison, they said, “ It is his angel,” that is, his guide or familiar
spirit The passage very distinctly recognizes the spiritistic point
of view and makes it characterize the conscious thought of
the time.
Apropos of this also, it may be worth noting that the Im-
perator group of personalities, who appeared in the automatic
writing of Stainton Moses, Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Chenoweth,
called themselves “ Messengers.” This is particularly significant
because of the name which came through Mr. Moses as that of
Imperator. It was the name of one of the Old Testament
Prophets, or of a person supposed to be one of them : namely,
Malachi. But I am told by a scholar familiar with Hebrew that
this is not the name of a person, but means “ Messengers,” and
that no one knows who wrote the book by that name. It has
been supposed, because we did not get the name Malachi through
Mrs. Piper and others, that the latter have been wrong in the
name given. This is not correct reasoning. “ Malachi ” was the
Hebrew for the very function which Imperator assumed in Eng-
lish through Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Chenoweth, as well as Mr.
Moses. Angel and Messenger, therefore, carry a spiritistic im-
port in the records of Christianity.
It does not require any exposition to indicate the meaning of
all this for a new interpretation of the New Testament. It will
bring Christ’s life, teaching and work into the domain of science.
No doubt the majority of Christian believers will resent any such
interpretation, but I do not believe those who have intelligently
tried to find the unity between the physical sciences and the
ethical and spiritual life of man will feel any qualms about it.
This age needs a reconciliation between religion and science, even
tho the reconciliation involves the entire triumph of science.
The very nature of science as the investigation of the present
moment or the verification in present experience of the claims
made about nature and history, and the existence of demo-
cratic institutions, with the extension of education and freedom
of thought, make it impossible to obtain all our knowledge from
the ancients or traditions of any kind. We insist on seeing and
70 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
knowing things for ourselves and testing every claim of the past
by our present experience. If science, therefore, cannot verify
the stories told in the New Testament, or ascertain just what
truth they really or probably represent, the credal part of it will
not stand and the fundamental ideas which gave it the strength
and interest it possesses will suffer accordingly.
It would be venturing upon the speculative to undertake to
reconstruct the story of Christ's nature and work. The evidence
for the integrity of the narratives about him, especially of the
“ miracles,” is not good enough to warrant dogmatic use of them.
But the general study of history and of what has been accom-
plished in modem psychology will vindicate the probability that
Christianity originated in psychic phenomena, and when we can
eliminate the mythical element from the accounts of it, we may
discover just what Christ was and just what he did. But if you
wish to get a reconciliation between his teaching and that of
modem science, it must be in the verification of the phenomena
which appeared in the “ miracles,” not because they are “ mir-
acles ” in the historical sense of that term, but because they
represent facts of nature quite as much as gravitation or chemical
affinity. Let us once verify survival after death and the doctrine
of spiritual healing, and both the philosophical and the prag-
matic side of Christianity will obtain their vindication, and the
sting will be taken out of science, as well as out of the illusions
about historical Christianity.
The interpretation of Christianity here hinted at makes it a
scientific religion. It was a revolt against tradition and author-
ity, the petrified ideas of the Old Testament, and based its claims
upon an appeal to facts, facts that had been familiar to the
human race from time immemorial and, tho not carefully ob-
served and recorded, so universal that it required only the same
patience and observation that had achieved such wonders in
physical science in order to give religion as satisfactory a status
as science. The moment that the poetic imagination and
mythopoeic tendencies began to prevail in Christian thought, it
deviated from its original meaning and abandoned the appeal to
facts. It began to depend on philosophic propositions and not
upon present facts and experience. This was the inception of its
decline and conflict with the scientific spirit. It must retrace its
Psychic Phenomena and Christianity.
71
steps and employ the method of science for its rejuvenation.
When Mr. Myers remarked in his last work that the next gener-
ation would believe in the resurrection of Christ, he had a correct
conception of what psychic research meant for the reinterpreta-
tion and reconstruction of the Biblical system and perhaps the
foundation of all other religions. We shall not return to the
naive conceptions of the past about them, but we shall find that,
in spite of mythopoeic distortions, there will be a certain amount
of truth in the various phenomena reported in the New Testa-
ment. Just in proportion as we can reproduce them can we
believe that they occurred in the past. But as long as we fail to
reproduce them we shall have to suspend judgment about them
or disregard them in our belief and conduct.
>0*1
72 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
" SPIRITUALISM AND THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY.”
By Walter F. Prince.
The above is the title of a book which we understand has
excited a certain amount of respectful attention among the not
sufficiently informed. Its author is a doctor, presumably of
England, the country which saw the nativity of the book, and
the name conferred upon him by cruel parents is Millais Culpin.
The book boasts an introduction by Professor Leonard Hill, also
an Englishman, and, we are told, a prominent biologist. The
subtitle announces that the work is ** an explanation of spiritual-
istic phenomena and beliefs in terms of modem knowledge,”
which sonorous proclamation awakens expectation somewhat
dampened by words in the author’s preface: “ Nevertheless, since
I take it for granted that supernatural phenomena are not what
their producers would have us believe, and at the same time make
no attempt to prove their human origin,” et cetera.
Very well, we will not expect proof, but only an explanation.
But proof and explanation have one thing in common, they must
relate to and be consistent with the facts. The gentleman who
published his theory that all moral evil is an evolution from
molecular transgression of natural law did not profess to prove
anything, he was only explaining. But even he based his ex-
planation upon an alleged fact, that “ one fine day ” a particle of
matter broke up the monotony of ages of dull obedience to law
by kicking up a fuss. And the gentlemen responsible for this
book, unless they cite only facts as safely beyond the reach of
current inspection as the ancient rebellious atom, cannot, if they
are careless of their facts, plead that they are not offering proof
but only an explanation. This pleasant device for avoiding re-
sponsibility is detected and disallowed.
Nevertheless, for proof they refer us to the works of Frank
Podmore, which is odd, since he firmly held the telepathic
doctrine which they repudiate ; and to certain foolish books, as
Mercier's and Clodd’s, which indicates a forlorn and desperate
case if none better can be brought forward. But so far as the
present authors concern themselves with facts we propose to
" Spiritualism and the New Psychology.”
73
observe their treatment of facts narrowly. Since they are openly
contemptuous of the psychical researcher who finds anything in
phenomena which makes him question whether they are accounted
for by academic science, they must expect to be followed and
narrowly watched as they wander rashly confident in a field with
which they are not familiar.
The introduction, by Professor Hill, begins with five pages
of physiological description which is informative, but surplusage
as relates to the issue. Who doubts that the human body is multi-
tudinously intricate, who doubts the evolution of the senses?
The more intricate the physical and mental mechanism, the more
marvelous the evolution, the more and not the less plausible is
the suspicion that perhaps a finer sense, a higher power, has been
reached. As well, without any real examination which would
prove the existence of wireless telegraphy, dogmatize that it
cannot exist, else why all the marvelous mechanism of telegraphs
and telephones, with their conducting processes, the wires, if
there is a way by which the wires may be dispensed with,
and the vibrations cut loose and launch out into the ether. The
sending and receiving stations are left? So would they be in
case that the scouted telepathy between the living is a fact ; the
brain of one person would be the sending instrument and that of
another the receiving one.
“The realization of these facts” — what? that our senses
were evolved through incalculable ages — " saves the physiologist
from being deceived ” into thinking that there is such a thing as
telepathy. As well does it prove that apperception is impossible.
As well that there can be no power of deductive reasoning. Our
minds transcend mere sensory reactions, and the question is how
far that transcendence extends. The modem Aristotelian does
not find it necessary to examine, to mention, probably even to be
aware of the recorded and printed evidence for telepathy, and so
illustrates Chesterton's saying, “ Explain the easy, deny the hard,
and go home to tea.” “ It is to be expected,” he says, “ that the
sensory stimuli received from a given environmental condition
will often arouse the same train of thought in two or more people,
standing together, especially in those who habitually associate.
Such coincidences of thought, which astonish the ignorant, are
due to natural law.”
74 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Such a description is laughable. Here is a man discussing
telepathy who actually supposes that the evidence which has
attracted wide attention is of this nature — “ two or more people,”
“ who habitually associate,” say husband and wife, “ standing
together,” perhaps look out of the window and both think how
beautiful the sunset, or they receive a letter and both think it
may be from son John! Several persons composing a family sit
at table and it occurs to all that the beefsteak is excellent!
Professor Hill could never have written down such a miscon-
ception of the facts which we are studying had his mind not been
cloaked in midnight ignorance of the topic he is discussing. Let
us look at one or two examples illustrating the real problem,
selecting them from the series wherein Professor Gilbert Mur-
ray, of Oxford, was the percipient, partly because he, his
daughter Mrs. Toynbee, and the accomplished Mrs. Verrall were
among the “ ignorant ” people concerned in them.
Under safeguarded conditions (see Proceedings of S- P. R.,
Vol. XXIX, pp. 64-1 10) a purely imaginary scene was agreed
upon, as follows : “ Mr. S playing Badminton at the Bad-
minton Club at Bogota; Lord Murray watching, and ladies
watching, one with a fan.” Mrs. Toynbee was the ostensible
agent. Professor Murray was called in, and this is what he sat'd :
“ This has something to do with your voyage to Panama [Mrs.
Toynbee had made a voyage to Panama] — it’s South American —
it’s people in white playing a game — it’s your villain S ; he’s
playing a game — the word Bogota is coming to my mind — I
think it is at a games-club.” (Mrs. Toynbee: “What is the
game?”) “I think I am only guessing. I think the game is
Badminton, and the Master of Elibank [Lord Murray] is there.”
Now what was there in the relationship of the parties to the
experiment, in their proximity, or in their local environment
which can by the utmost effort of ingenious imagination be sup-
posed capable of suggesting the correspondences between what
was proposed and the response? If the scene had been a real
one, hitting by chance upon one particular might have drawn all
the others after it, though even then the exact parallel, both as
to inclusion and exclusion of details, would be astonishing, but
as the scene was an imaginary one, this resource for explanation
is wanting.
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
75
Again, the same agent arranged with others this test:
“ Dostoievsky writing in a very bare room, I think in France, and
hearing the bailiff people banging at the door, and pretending he
is not in the house." And this is what Professor Murray, when
admitted, said : “ I think it is out of a book — it’s Russian — it’s a
man inside a house — and the people beating and beating on the
door outside — and he’s keeping quite still so they shan’t know he
is there — it’s a big sort of a bare room and he is a writer — seems
a mad sort of a person — (I) don’t somehow feel as if I was
going to get it — I think it is in France — but he must be Russian
— I don’t feel as if they were going to murder him at all — I
should think it is a story of Dostoievsky, that I can’t get — I have
a feeling that I can’t be right — Are they bailiffs?”
Imagine if you please that it was impossible for persons in
one room to whisper softly enough to prevent a man at a distance
in another room with closed doors between from hearing what
was arranged, charge the distinguished professor and the other
experimenters, if you will, with arranging a hoax to deceive the
Society of which Mr. Murray was the president, but don’t have
the effrontery to hint that there was anything in blood-relation-
ship, local situation or environment to bring about the broken
sentences which were uttered, especially as the arranged scene is
not in any book, but was an invented one.
Nor are such instances exceptions in the series. Mrs. Ver-
rall, whose reasoning faculties were superior to the logical falla-
cies into which the writers of the book in hand stumble on almost
every page, analyzed the 505 experiments in which Professor
Murray was agent and found that excluding 68 cases in which
no impression was received, there were 38.2 per cent, of suc-
cesses, 32.3 of partial successes, and 29.5 of failures.
Such are the facts, and there are many other series on record,
in which the experimenters were the peers of Professor Hill in
intelligence and where the conditions surrounding the tests are
carefully reported. And note that the most of the printed series
are experimental, whereas Professor Hill seems to conceive only
of spontaneous isolated cases of supposed telepathy. What be-
comes of the careless generalization “ it is to be expected that
sensory stimuli received from a given environmental condition
will often arouse the same train of thought in two or more people
76 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
standing together, especially in those who habitually associate ”?
If the critic and explainer was quite ignorant of the records
to which I refer and from which I have given but two samples,
what business had he as a responsible man of science to discuss
the subject before the public? He would look upon the man
who, with mental equipment of an average factory hand, pub-
lished his views on biology, as a droll and contemptible object.
We refrain from expressing contempt for the other man who, in
a state of dense ignorance of the literature of telepathy, calmly
addresses the public upon the subject, but we will not be re-
strained from calling him a droll spectacle, as droll as that old
neighbor of ours who mixed into a conversation on dietary hy-
gienics with the contribution that he himself thought that " it isn’t
healthy for anyone to put hot biscuits into his lungs.” Does he
not know of the long row of volumes issued by the Societies for
Psychical Research ? But, as ignorance of the law is no excuse
for crime, so ignorance of the evidence for telepathy is no ex-
cuse for rushing into print about it. If he does know of the
existence of these volumes, if he is aware of the many reports
of careful experimentation for thought-transference, then he is
guilty of swindling his readers. However that may be, having
been brought face to face with the facts, and having once misled
his public, he is surely culpable if he maintains by silence his
false representation of the evidence, and fails to face and discuss
the actual facts. Let him now essay the task of explaining these
facts on any “ normal ” hypothesis, and God grant him good
deliverance. Or let him come out like a man and acknowledge
that in a certain “ Introduction ” he wrote words without
wisdom.
But there is another generalized argument against the possi-
bility of telepathy. It is intimated that if there were, the Stock
Exchange and the army in the field would need no telegraphs,
telephones or messengers, S. O. S- signals at sea would be un-
necessary, and it could be depended upon to win fortunes in the
fluctuations of shares. It would be as logical to intimate that if
Coleridge and a few others have really dreamed out poems, it
should not be necessary for poets to labor marshalling thoughts
and rhymes ; that if there are mathematical prodigies there should
be no necessity for laborious calculations with pencil on paper.
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
77
If there is such a thing as telepathy, it is certain that the “ per-
cipient ” is a rare bird. There is no logic in the implied demand
that the exceptional and sporadic should be universal, certain and
dependable. The “ agent ” in experiments “ concentrates ” in
the effort to cause the “ percipient ” to get his thought. Are
“ bulls ” of the Stock Exchange concentrating in order to get
information to the “bears”? And as regards spontaneous
telepathy, it is utterly impossible to prove that no one ever gets
transferred thoughts relative to stocks, battles and other matters
of practical importance. In fact there are claims, and some ap-
pearances, that they do. But as apparent telepathic successes are
uncertain, even under the best conditions, and as the flurry of
business, battle, etc., rarely furnishes those conditions, no one of
sense would act on such an impression if he suspected he might
be receiving one. To argue against the possibility of telepathy
on the ground that it is not of daily practical use is much like
arguing that there are no aerolites since foundries are not main-
tained by meteoric iron.
As an illustration of the statement that there is evidence that
telepathy is of benefit sometimes in practical and critical affairs,
we cite the case of John Muir, the noted naturalist ( Journal
A. S. P. R., Vol. XV, pp. 394-396). He had not seen his friend,
Professor Butler, for years, and the last letter he had from him
was received some weeks after it was written, and had not a
word about visiting California, for the plan to do so had not then
been formed. About a month after receipt of that letter Muir
was where he had been for three weeks, high up on the north
wall of the Yosemite Valley, two miles from the brink. “ Sud-
denly,” he says, “ I was seized with the idea of going down the
valley to find Professor Butler.” The result was that he found
his friend wandering among the rocks on the steep side of the
mountain, not knowing his way and about to be overtaken by
night. If this was telepathy it was of some practical use. If not,
what was it?
“ The phenomena of wireless telegraphy and of radio-active
elements have led people to think that some direct means of com-
munication of energy from one brain to another may be possible,
that is, without intervention of the senses.” Here is a pretty
setting of the carriage before the horse. People were talking
78 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
about direct transference of thought from brain to brain long
before wireless telegraphy or radio-activity had been heard of.
Mark Twain wrote an article on “ Mental Telegraphy ” nearly
forty years ago. It was the facts which set people to thinking of
possible thought-transference, and they had to wait for wireless
telegraphy and knowledge of radio-activity before they could
draw the possibly misleading analogies which are now familiar.
The introduction goes on with an elaborate argument against
the possibility “ that waves of energy proceed directly through
space from the watery granular living substance of the brain
confined within the skull and skin, and passes into similar sub-
stance of another.” If indeed this must be the process involved
we would be inclined to say, so be it. Too much has newly come
to light regarding forms and properties of energy, such as are
displayed in radio-activity and the X-rays, for us to regard the
passage of vibrations from the brain through the skull as un-
thinkable. But at any rate the scientific method is first to ascer-
tain if alleged facts are really facts, and let consequences and
corollaries take care of themselves. If telepathy should at length
be accepted it would not be the first time that pedants have de-
clared that the acceptance of a newly-alleged fact would put the
scheme of nature out of joint, but afterward, when the fact has
been proved, have cheerfully and even enthusiastically fitted it
into its place, and the scheme of nature has gooe on as calmly as if
nothing had happened.
The psychical researcher is astounded to read Professor Hill’s
confession that he thinks that The Road to Endor, a book telling
how two imprisoned officers fooled their fellow-prisoners with
faked “ messages,” is a key to all mediumistic phenomena. For,
when he says that “ such are the methods of the professional
medium and in The Road to Endor they lie unravelled and fully
exposed,” we must do him the justice of admitting that he does
not mean to imply that unprofessional mediums get supernormal
results. He surely would not maintain that if some did no pro-
fessional possibly could. Psychical researchers read the book
without a thrill save of amused interest and without a suspicion
that anyone would dream that it shed the smallest glimmer of
new light upon the real problems of mediumship. Have we no
knowledge of the methods of fraud and of the psychology of
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology
79
deception ? Have we no record for the exposure and analysis of
trickery of various species? No scientific investigator would
have regarded the testimony of the deluded prisoners, though
they swore to it until they were blue in the face, as worth atten-
tion, since all the circumstances, and especially the living cooped
up together with its certainty of numerous conversations which
the alert deceivers could utilize after the unsuspecting dupes had
forgotten them, lent themselves admirably to both culpable and
unconscious deception. The conditions which surrounded the
prison performances, together with the naive ignorance of the
onlookers as to what can be done in faking and as to the methods
of detecting it, present an entire contrast to our best published
records, where unnamed strangers from a distance are brought
without notice to the psychic, and every avenue of leakage is
hermetically closed, and where every word uttered makes a part
of the record.
The next important step in Prof. Hill’s philanthropic labors
to save his fellow men from delusion is his proud claim that he
once investigated a young woman who poured water into beds,
and that he caught a servant girl who stole meat and tried to
incriminate the cat by causing its innocent though dirty feet to
imprint a track up the perpendicular wall leading to the larder
window, and performed other astute tricks. But we have to
admit shyly that we knew there were tricky servant girls and
other girls before, and to hint modestly that we have found out a
few things ourselves. The Societies for Psychical Research have
resolved the mysteries of far more complicated cases of polter-
geist and so far as I know, have never given a certificate of char-
acter to any.
But when it comes to houses where apparitions (or “ visual
hallucinations”) are seen by people who never see them else-
where, and where raps occur which all the searching and all the
ingenuity cannot refer to physical causes, his little discoveries do
not apply. Of course, he would say, as Miinsterberg said of the
subliminal mind : “ There is none." But men as keen and initially
incredulous as himself, and a great deal better qualified by special
training, have investigated such reports and themselves heard
such raps, and declare that there are such houses. And so an
issue is found between those who have come up against and wit-
80 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
nessed the real thing, and the man who has not. And he pre-
sumes to settle the question by some ridiculous little experience
of his own which offers hardly a point of analogy, but which he
values because it is his own and because in his ignorance or the
agility of his imagination he supposes it to be just the sort of
thing which gives the psychical researcher pause.
Then comes a complaint that “ the eminent scientists who
have expressed their belief in spiritualism are mostly physicists,"
and the claim that “ to the physiologist, who recognizes the ma-
jestic unity of natural phenomena, belief in telepathy and spirit-
ualism appear a form of materialism as gross as the ju-ju
superstition of the Benin native.” Think of it, belief in telep-
athy, or the transcendence of thought over matter, and spirit-
ualism, or the theory, founded on alleged evidence, that there
is a mental entity which survives the dissolution of the body, is
a form of materialism! Is it possible to make the affirmation
mean anything?
But passing that, is it a fact that the physiologist, more than
the physicist, “ recognizes the majestic unity of natural phe-
nomena”? And, for the matter of that, is there any psychical
researcher who questions “ the majestic unity of natural phe-
nomena ” ? We need not worry about that unity ; every new fact
discovered, however grievous the previous lamentation that it
would wreck the ineffable harmony of the universe, fits into its
place, and natural phenomena march on as majestically as before.
It is amusing — this recurrent appeal for a change of venue.
Some of us remember when the physicists, because of their hard-
headedness, their recognition of the “ majestic unity of natural
phenomena ” and their materialistic prepossessions, were re-
garded as the proper jury to try claims of the supernormal. But
a number of the most eminent were converted ; plainly physicists
would not do. Then psychologists were acclaimed as the only fit
jurists, but a lot of psychologists became convinced, or at least
lenient, so an appeal must be made to another court. Now a
physiologist broadly hints that physiologists are the incorruptible
judges who will promptly pronounce an adverse verdict. In the
meantime a good many physicians of standing are being con-
vinced of telepathy, and some of demonstrations of spirit sur-
vival, and physicians are supposed to know something about
" Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
81
physiology. Are those only who write books on physiology
and not those who leam and practise what is in the books
physiologists ?
Furthermore, it is not the demonstration of the survival of
the spirit which is capable of disturbing the " majestic unity ” ; it
must be the survival itself. If the spirit survives, it is an entity,
which, even while in the body, causes the disgusting mischief of
injecting itself into the majestic unity: of mixing with natural
phenomena in a fashion quite offensive. But a host of phys-
icians and physiologists, including the great Sir William Osier,
believe and have believed in the survival of the human spirit.
Where next shall the appeal be made ?
Toward the close of the Introduction comes a burst of emo-
tionalism. This spiritism certainly does get our physiologist’s
“ goat,” as it does that of many a learned pundit, who, on almost
any other subject, can confine himself to the calm discussion of
facts, but upon this has to relieve his feelings by horror-stricken
ejaculations. “ Nothing can excite greater contempt,” he cries,
“ than the mean trivialities which are served as communications
from that infinite, silent universe wherein the energy of individ-
ual life sinks on death.” Well, here is a very pretty way of ascer-
taining what is and what isn’t. I have a perfect contempt for
snakes and toads, therefore the world does not contain toads and
snakes. As Artemus Ward said, I personally " abore and dis-
gust ” fleas and medical quacks, therefore in my world no med-
ical quacks nor fleas shall be possible. To Smith, roses are in-
credible, because if they existed they would give him rose-fever,
but Brown has no provisional, contingent liability to rose-fever,
therefore roses, not being objects of loathing to him, are possible
in his world.
Suppose a party of miners hemmed in by a fall of rock. The
rescuers, working their way through the wall, at length hear a
tapping from within. They do not pause to inquire if the tapping
is conveying some dignified and eloquent sentiment; it is enough
that it signifies that the men are living yet. If a sign of intelli-
gence came unmistakably from Mars, though it were only that
sign by which an illiterate person indicates that he cannot write
bis name, every scientific man would hail the new extension of
our knowledge.
82 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
And it would seem as though the reception of any sort of a
message from what Prof. Hill, by petitio principii, calls the
“ silent universe ” (his “ unity of natural phenomena ” allows for
two universes, the vocal one, and the silent one which absorbs
individual energy after death) would have even more importance
than a gesture from Mars, if it were no more than an unmistak-
able “Hello!” If “communications” were all as trivial as is
intimated, there might prove to be reasons not involving the in-
telligence of the communicators. But even if the facts indicated
that all communicating spirits are insane or imbecile, we should
have to yield to the facts, for they will not yield to our contempt
and loathing.
We now pay our respects to the body of the book, and to its
author. His first chapter, “ The Unconscious," contains nothing
to trouble the psychical researcher, unless he is finical about the
use of the word “ intuitions ” for sense-perceptions dimly emerg-
ing in consciousness. Indeed, what Dr. Culpin prefers to call the
“ unconscious ” is daily pabulum for the psychical researcher.
Neither has he any quarrel with the chapter on “ Complexes,” and
indeed, is in hearty accord with what is said about the danger of
having “ logic-tight compartments ” and indulging in “ pseudo-
reasoning.” He especially commends the sentence : “ Scientific
men are prone to believe that their mind-work is purely logical
* * * but the reception of a new theory is always opposed by
those whose complexes are offended by it.” Ipse dixit. Nor are
there more than a few allusions in the material of the chapters on
“ Forgetting and Repression ” and “ Dissociation ” to which the
scientific psychical researcher is inclined to take exception, since
subconscious thinking, buried memories and dissociated streams
of consciousness are constant factors in his discussions.
But there is something to be said about the chapter on
“ Water-Divining.” As I nowhere in critiques find it necessary
to defend spiritism, so I am not here taking sides with those who
believe in dowsing. I am simply criticising a mode of logic. I
am protesting against spectators rushing in while a serious trial
is going on, and volunteering testimony which is “ incompetent
and impertinent,” and especially against their forcing themselves
on the judge's bench when they have not even heard, or are not
willing to hear, the real evidence.
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
83
The following propositions are self-evident : ( 1 ) A large col-
lection of evidence, including many cases, cannot be affected by
bringing against it two or three selected minor cases. (2) Any
number of experiments under unguarded and indeterminate con-
ditions are invalid as against experiments under controlled and
determined conditions.
Now Dr. Culpin mentions three cases only, one from his own
observation, one from a newspaper, and a third from the lips of
an acquaintance. In all three instances, there was success com-
plete or partial ; but in the first case a number of spectators knew
where the water was and may have given unconscious hints by
expression and behavior; in the second there may have been an
extraordinary degree of auditory hyperaesthesia, by which the
dowser detected the sound of water running in a pipe ; and in the
third case, no explanation for the successes of the real dowser in
the story is offered.
This is all the evidence which Dr. Culpin adduces to blast
forever the claims of dowsing. Yet on the pages of the Proceed-
ings of the English Society for Psychical Research (Vol. XIII,
pp. 1-282) has been spread for many years the lengthy report
of investigations of the subject by Sir William F. Barrett, the
physicist, assisted at several points by eminent geologists, a report
which carefully considers the possibilities of normal information
as to the location of water, which gives many instances where
such possibilities are supposed to be absent, instances where
dowsers somehow located water where no one supposed that it
could be reached and though wells sunk in the near vicinity were
unsuccessful. Whether the evidence is conclusive or not is a
matter for the reader to judge, but at least there is a mass of
evidence adduced. And all this is passed over by the astute critic,
who thinks that he has solved the whole business by explaining
that the movement of the water-diviner’s twig is due to subcon-
scious muscular action, which no intelligent person doubts, and to
guess-work, judging by his great mass of cases, three in number
and one of these from a newspaper.
The chapter on ** Suggestion ” early announces that “ Our
thinking (apart from the observation of cause and effect in the
small affairs of ordinary life [as though suggestion affected only
large affairs, or as though the affairs of ordinary life were ex-
84 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
empt from its influence!]) is generally a matter of complexes,
logic being concerned only in rare cases. Hence, if we use the
above definition the greater part of our accepted propositions owe
their acceptance to suggestion.” And hence the gentleman who
writes this should have been on his guard, for by his own state-
ment, he is a bundle of complexes which irrationally rule the most
of his thinking. But those who set down such generalities about
the human race and make a courtesy-admission that they belong
to it, immediately after talk as though they were another species
exempt from the universal human frailties, or as though, after
all, the human race were divided into two sets, those who disagree
with the man who is writing and are ruled by complexes, and
those who agree with him and are reasoning beings. There are,
roughly speaking, the two sets, with all the gradations between.
But it is not safe to accept a man’s own classification of himself.
The only test is to see how a man succeeds when he tries to
reason. That test we are applying to Dr. Culpin.
But he does not even know what the word “ suggestion ”
means, as used by psychologists, else he would not say, by way
of illustration, “ since children believe what they are taught
chiefly because the teacher says so, there does not seem much
opinion or knowledge of the abstract [why is the word " ab-
stract” juggled in here?] for which suggestion is not account-
able.” Believing a thing because you are taught it is not sug-
gestion. The word is indeed hard to define, but it more nearly
means the unconscious and irrational acceptance of intimations,
hints, intended or unintended. The child has logical grounds for
believing that the teacher knows when she teaches that the world
is round, as the teacher had for believing it on the authority of
the man who made the geography, as the writer of the geography
had in believing it on the authority of scientists. No link of this
chain would prove to be of the nature of suggestion, even if it
should be discovered that the world is, after all, flat Logic
itself, reasoning from facts and from two propositions to a third,
is fallible, else science would not have so often to revise its
conclusions.
But the Doctor gives more valid examples of suggestion from
his personal experience. One of these is an incident of his think-
ing he saw a pulsating exposed area of the brain, when there was
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
85
no penetration of the skull. The man had a paralyzed arm and
a wound over the motor area of the brain, and so his “ uncon-
scious ” inferred that, as a paralyzed arm may result from a
penetration of the skull, there actually was such a penetration
and consequent visible pulsation. The Doctor is frank in his con-
fession of extreme suggestibility and I respect him for that, yet at
the same time I would hesitate to intrust a serious case to him for
diagnosis. Of course the moral of the little tale is this: If the
learned physician, Dr. Culpin, is suggestible, it follows that
everybody else is at least as suggestible. But I do not think that
it proves more than was proved by a favorite saying of a great-
grandmother of mine, “ Every woman at some time of her life
thinks she is beautiful.” All that my great-grandmother really
proved was that she had thought herself beautiful, and all that
Dr. Culpin proves is that he is suggestible. It is too rash an
assumption that everyone who thinks he has had evidence for the
supernormal is as suggestible as he. Some are probably more so,
and some are certainly less so.
Now let us note the caution with which a physiologist, the
proper judge of such matters, analyzes an old case. One Mr.
Lett related that about six weeks after his wife’s father’s death,
Mrs. Lett and a Miss Britton [this should be Berthon] entered a
room and saw an apparition of the dead man, half-figure but life-
size, as it were reflected upon the polished surface of the ward-
robe, clad in his familiar grey flannel jacket, so vivid that they
first thought it was the reflection of a portrait, but there was
none. “ While they were looking and wondering, my wife’s
sister, Miss Towns, came into the room, and before either of the
others had time to speak she exclaimed, ‘Good gracious! Do
you see Papa?’ One of the housemaids happened to be passing
downstairs at the moment and she was called in and asked i f she
saw anything, and her reply was, * O Miss; the master.’ Graham
— Captain Towns’ old body-servant — was then called for, and he
also exclaimed, ' Oh, Lord save us! Mrs. Lett, it’s the Captain!’
The butler was called, and then Mrs. Crane, my wife’s nurse, and
they both said what they saw. Finally Mrs. Towns was sent for,
and, seeing the apparition, she advanced toward it. * * *
As she passed her hand over the panel of the wardrobe the figure
gradually faded away, and never again appeared.
86 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
These are the facts of the case, and they admit of no deceit ;
no kind of intimation was given to any of the witnesses ; the same
question was put to each one as they came into the room, and the
reply was given without hesitation by each.”
Mrs. Lett is positive that the recognition of the appearance
on the part of each of the later witnesses was independent, and
not due to any suggestion from the persons already in the room.
If Dr. Culpin had limited himself to objecting that in the
lapse of twelve years between the phenomenon and the written
1 ecital errors of memory might have crept in he would have been
on safe ground. But when he says that “ we know what hap-
pens under such conditions,” implying that the story was certain
to have become distorted and exaggerated, he states what simply
is not true. I know by actual tests that with some persons such
a story after the lapse of many years simply loses some of its
details, while the main structure remains essentially unaltered.
But the critic continues, "As the tale is given (my italics),
however, it reveals more than the narrator thinks it does.” Now
comes in the fine work of the physiologist. Words to which
special attention is called will be put in small capitals and my
comments within square brackets. Let us see what the tale re-
veals, as it is given.
“ Picture Miss Towns coming into the room whilst the first
two were * looking and wondering ’ (and not in silence we may
be sure, in spite of the words ‘ before either of the others had
time to speak,' which are interpolated to strengthen the story)
[ this is not what ‘ the tale reveals, as it is given,” it is contradict-
ing the tale and ascribing a purpose to strengthen the story con-
trary to the facts. Is it not possible for people to be silent, or not
to have time to speak before something else happens? Well then,
only a determination at all costs to break down the story can
make us sure that anything was said. And if we are resolved to
hew away every obstacle to our purpose, because the story cannot
be true anyhow, why not make the process shorter and simply
say with the countryman when he first saw the giraffe, ‘ There
ain’t no such animal,’ and dismiss the story as a lie?] ; she
straightway experiences the same emotion and sees what they see
[These witnesses declare that no intimations were given ; suppose
the first two ladies did not describe to the third what they saw,
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology ."
87
would simple emotion infallibly indicate that the apparition of
Captain Towns had been seen?]. Now we have three emo-
tional people [There is not a shred of evidence for this state-
ment; for all the critic knows they may have been particularly
cool and calm people, for even such might “ look ” and “ won-
der," be “ surprised ” and even “ half-alarmed ” at such an un-
usual experience], and as each new witness is brought along the
emotion increases till it would require a very self-possessed and
skeptical person to resist its influence [an admission that such a
person might resist the influence, but coupled with an assumption,
without an atom of knowledge of the facts, that not one of the
eight persons was that sort of a person. Yet a single such per-
son, if as voluble as it is again assumed, in contradiction of the
testimony, that the witnesses were, might have broken the power
of suggestion for all who subsequently came in. Is it likely that
out of the eight not one was a cool, incredulous one, proof
against subtle suggestion to the extent that he or she could not
be caused to see an apparition of a particular dead person?].
The butler and nurse simply had to SEE the ghost [Even if we
agree that they had to see something, it does not follow that they
had to see the same thing — the apparition of Capt. Towns]
though the account is a little ambiguous at this point [Verbally
it is, but there can be no doubt what is meant. And why are the
housemaid and body-servant, with their explicit statements, and
why is Mrs. Towns, with the explicit statement as to what she
saw, left out of account, if not for the reason that there is less
opportunity to cavil at the testimony related to them ?]
“ The same question was put to each one as they came into
the room,” but is it likely that under such a condition of excite-
ment enough self-control was left to every individual to insure
that the same question, and nothing else, was put to each new-
comer? [In the first place the degree of “excitement ” which it
is supposed must prevail on such an occasion, is exaggerated. I
have been present at two or three scenes which theoretically
would have frightened and excited the participants, and they
remained calm though interested and surprised. Many instances
are known to me. I have been myself surprised, though by
no means thrown into a state of uncontrollable emotion about it,
that usually people take such things as apparitions so coolly.
88 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
But again the critic, after promising that he was going to show
what “ the tale as given ” revealed, contradicts the solemn state-
ments of two witnesses and that of a third person (Mr. Lett)
who had an opportunity to question all immediately afterward.]
Such a thing could only happen by careful prearrange-
ment [Is this true? Could not a single person be intelligent
enough to warn the others in turn, even by the gesture of a finger
to the lips, before the next came into the room, to be silent?
Surely Dr. Culpin would have had the sense to see the importance
of such a precaution. It would certainly have been my instinctive
course, and I venture to contradict and say that there could
have been such a person, say Mrs. Lett or Miss Towns, who first
entered, in this group with the no excessive quantity of sense
requisite to adopt the same procedure. Both Mr. Lett, who
talked with all the witnesses directly afterward, and Mrs. .Lett,
who was a witness, as the narrative is gizwn, assure us that no
intimations were given what had been seen. But this very assur-
ance is made the ground for a subtle objection. ] which was lack-
ing here, and the writer’s insistence shows that somewhere in
HIS MIND WAS PRESENT THE SUSPICION THAT SUGGESTION HAD A
hand in the production of the unanimous evidence. [Take this
in connection with what follows.] Mrs. Lett is equally insistent
that the recognition was not due to any suggestion from the
persons already in the room, but she was unaware that
suggestion can occur without intent and that the most
powerful suggestion is that which is unintentional. [How
does Dr. Culpin know that she was unaware of this? I will
agree to invalidate any story which he may tell if I am at
liberty to contradict any of his statements according to my
notion of what is likely or conceivable, and to ascribe to him
without any ascertained data whatever psychological make-up is
convenient for my purpose. If he had said that perhaps Mrs.
Lett was unaware, etc., or even that she probably was, I would
not object, but no physiologist or other man has a right to affirm
positively what he does not know is true. But especially note
another proof of his determination to make all grist for his mill.
He invalidates the testimony because Mrs. Lett does not signify
that she understands about the power of indirect suggestion, and
he earlier invalidates it because the witnesses signify that they do
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology.”
89
understand what direct suggestion can do. “ The writer's insist-
ence [as well as his wife’s, that no ‘ intimation ’ or ' suggestion ’
had been made] shows that somewhere in his mind was present
the suspicion that suggestion had a hand in the production of the
unanimous evidence ” ! What is a poor witness to do?
“ You are damned if you do.
You are damned if you don’t.”
One is reminded of the procedure for trying if a woman was
a witch by throwing her into the water — if she floated execution
followed, if she drowned it was much the same.] Can we sup-
pose that there were no signs of wonder and awe on the faces
of those present, no excited exclamations, no glances towards the
wardrobe, no pointing of hands, only a few calm and self-
possessed people asking each newcomer if he or she saw any-
thing? [Nowhere does Dr. Culpin charge or intimate that any-
one described what he saw to the person next entering, his whole
argument at this point is that the efficacious suggestions were un-
intended and indirect. And he does not see the logical hiatus
that he has created. Allow that the witnesses were in a state of
excitement bordering on frenzy, so that each particular hair stood
on end like quills on the fretful porcupine, granted that they
uttered ejaculations such as “Oh!” and “My!” and “Heaven
help us!”, grant that they all glared at the wardrobe and pointed
all their fingers at it, how could all these signs infallibly indicate
the same thing, that an apparition was to be seen, and that the
apparition was to be that of Capt. Towns? I grant that Capt.
Towns had recently died, though the passage of six weeks would
not suggest that his ghost was to be expected. But why need
every mind have gravitated at once to an apparition? Why
might not this one have thought of an infernal machine and have
looked to see if one was visible? And another that perhaps a
burglar was shut up in the wardrobe and that he was being
called on to see a trembling movement of that article of furni-
ture? Is it credible that out of six who came in subsequently to
the first two not one, when asked if he or she saw anything,
would have looked in great perplexity and have made some
such answer as “ No, I don’t see a thing. What is the matter
with all of you? What do you see?” If there was something
90 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
unusual apparently reflected on the wardrobe, it might well be
that suggestion would cause some of the eight to think it looked
like Capt. Towns, though it is hard to believe that not one would
say something like, "Yes, I see a peculiar appearance on the
wardrobe, it must be the reflection of some object.” But if there
really was some peculiar appearance on the wardrobe in the
bright gaslight, what became of it? Why did it gradually dis-
appear as Mrs. Towns passed her hand over it, and why could
none of the excited and highly-suggestible group get any renewal
of the impression?] The minute account of the apparition, given
by someone who was not present [It does not appear to be con-
venient to quote Mr. Lett’s statement: “ I was in the house at the
time, but did not hear when I was called,” for this would have
revealed that he had opportunity to hear the testimony of all
eight witnesses within the hour — a very different situation from
that when a man tells a story years after the facts which hap-
pened at a distance, and the auditor, who never has talked with
any other witness, afterward rehearses the story] and told as if
it were the result of the immediate observations of the first two
witnesses [I can see no possible justification for this statement.
Furthermore, it seems not quite ingenuous to set down such a
sentence and to ignore the signed declaration of Mrs. Lett and
her sister which makes Mr. Lett's account their own: “ We, the
undersigned, having read the above statement, certify that it is
strictly accurate, as we were both witnesses of the apparition."
And it seems to a misguided psychical researcher to be of im-
portance that these witnesses “ never experienced a hallucina-
tion of the senses on any other occasion ” as bearing upon the
extreme suggestibility credited to them, as well as the remaining
six witnesses, by the physiologist, on no evidence whatever.]
has BEEN influenced by discussion after the incident [Verily, the
man must be omniscient!] and is itself another product of sug-
gestion [First the apparition was the eight-fold product of
suggestion and now the whole narrative about it is the product
of suggestion. Some people use that word to conjure with, to
paralyze any fart, statement or evidence which they do not fancy.
And this good Doctor, who, though doubtless an expert physiolo-
gist, does not impress one as a profound psychologist, really
seems to use the word * suggestion ” as recklessly as his pro-
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology.” 91
fession used to use calomel. Here is a story guaranteed by two
witnesses and written by a man who had conversed with six
more, and it is resolved into “ a product of suggestion." I can
imagine the Doctor called as an expert witness. “ The story
which that man has just told is the product of suggestion,” he
declares. The cross-examiner takes him in hand. “You heard
two persons declare that they were eye-witnesses and all that he
says is true; you have heard that six other persons were present
at the time and that all testified to the same thing ; how then can
the account be the product of suggestion ?” “ Don’t you see,”
says Dr. Culpin, “ the actual witnesses might have forgotten
what really took place, and various circumstances might have
suggested what they now tell.” “ But,” replies the lawyer, “ they
declare there was no suggestion about it, that they have always
adhered to the same story." “ Ah, but that might be part of the
product of suggestion; it might and I affirm that it was.” “ Not
so fast,” says counsel, " we want to learn how you know it was.”
“ Because the story is so improbable." “ And that is your ground
for stating that the story is the product of suggestion?” “ Yes,
and that I don't like such stories at all.” And the lawyer wearily
says, “ As we are not here to determine whether the testimony is
to your liking or whether it is probable, but whether it is true,
you may step down.”] The narrator has overshot his mark
in his protest against the possibility of suggestion [We have
already attended to this beautiful specimen of petitio principii],
and has produced a story in which the apparition is not the only
improbable feature. [Earlier, the apparition was so probable a
feature as to be certain in the given circumstances — “ the butler
and the nurse simply had to see the ghost ” — but now it has be-
come improbable. Presto change ! Now you see it and now you
don’t. We must inform Dr. Culpin that apparitions as subjective
facts are not questioned by any well-informed persons. If he
meant to say that the objectivity of the apparition is improbable,
that is another thing, and he should really learn to express his
meaning more accurately. ] ”
Finally we read, “ I have given this analysis because the story
is quoted repeatedly by writers on the spiritualist side, and until
one examines it critically [as one would examine a watch with a
claw-hammer] it appears convincing.”
92 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
And I have given this analysis of the analysis because it is a
type of the sort of thing in which many professional gentlemen
who have the loathing- for-psychical-research complex but who
are tyros in the field of psychical research, feel it is fitting to
indulge, and until one examines it critically it might appear con-
vincing. It is convincing to a great many people to whom any-
thing, no matter how full of misapprehensions and misstatements,
suppression and distortion of evidence, lame logic and sounding
generalities, so long as it favors their prejudices and is pro-
claimed with Olympic assurance by academics and professionals,
is sweet and juicy meat. But incorrect statement and poor
logic are incorrect statement and poor logic no matter by whom
uttered nor by how many. Dirty water may in Asia become fit
for use provided a sufficiently large tank is filled with it, but
nowhere else. We respect any painstaking, learned and intelli-
gent argument against the alleged supernormal, and will combat
it respectfully or agree with it as the case may be, but practically
all that is served out by the intellectuals is of a grade that they
would not dare to employ upon another subject. It seems as
though some enchantment seized upon men of ability in their
respective fields the moment they pass the boundary line of
psychical research with deadly intent. Even though psychical
research were a windmill, there would otherwise seem to be no
reason why they should tilt against it with wooden lances and on
rickety Rosinantes.
There is nothing in the chapters on Hypnotism and Hysteria
which need detain us, nor in that on Dreams, except to remark
that there might theoretically be, and there is respectable evidence
that there occasionally are, dreams which injected into them
factors of a telepathic, clairvoyant, prophetic or even spiritistic
character. This the writer denies, at least by implication, but as
he makes no argument we can smile at his dogmatism and
pass on.
There is good matter in the chapter on " Experiments," but
the treatment of The Gate of Rembrance is, as usual, superficial
and dogmatic. The only reference to the evidential portions of
the book, which might seem worth an argument, is by way of
coupling the term " poetical imaginings ” with a sneering quota-
tion of the words “ veridical passages,” which slyly intimates that
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
93
the critic could easily refute the supposed evidential passages if
he cared to do so. But he prefers to turn aside and assault Sir
A. Conan Doyle and Raymond, as easier game.
We come to the chapter " About Mediums,” which hastens
to “ describe my first experience of a medium.” It is amusing
how fond and proud the tyros in this department of inquiry who
write books are of their little experiences. And the air of dis-
covery and of finality with which they relate banal incidents of
fraud and subconscious activity which are the daily rubbish which
some of us toss aside in order to deal with a fraud that is really
notable, or with the rarer phenomena not to be lightly dismissed !
There is not a really well-informed person in the world on such
matters who does not know of the fishing and fumbling of die
average professional medium, the credulity of many sitters and
spectators, the possibilities of subliminal action in automatic
deliverances, the antecedent probability that such deliverances,
like dreams, are wholly normal in their causation. These things
scientific psychical researchers are saying and illustrating, world
without end. The antecedent probability, if I stumble upon a
skeleton in the fields, is that it is that of an animal existing in our
times, but it will not suffice to cite a few of these, my little ex-
periences, and then generalize to the effect that there are no
skeletons of prehistoric beasts in existence. But this is precisely
the logical procedure of Dr. Culpin and many other like writers.
I do not care to discuss Sir A. Conan Doyle, whose mental
methods I cannot follow, nor Raymond, which most hostile
critics seem to suppose is the best book for evidence which
psychical research has to offer. They let the far more formid-
able report by Lady Troubridge and Miss Radclyffe-Hall, of
experiments with the same medium who prominently figures in
Sir Oliver Lodge’s book, severely alone, as they do the “ Mrs.
Fischer ” group through Mrs. Chenoweth. These and other im-
portant records are shut up in the Proceedings of the two Socie-
ties, but it surely would be worth while, if the obdurately-hostile
trusted their own weapons, to seek out foemen worthy of their
steel. But they never do, or at least never attack such fairly. Dr.
Amy Tanner and Prof. Margaret F. Washburn did assail the
Piper records, but they carefully selected the weaker incidents
94 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
and then by mutilation and suppression altered them beyond
recognition.
Let us, however, cite one passage about Raymond, to show
that Dr. Culpin is not entirely above employing the tactics of
Mesdames Tanner and Washburn. He says:
“ A delightful example of Sir Oliver Lodge’s anxiety to help
the medium occurs on page 256. O. J. L. : ‘ Do you remember a
bird in our garden?’
Feda: [the control] (sotto voce ) 'Yes, hopping about.’)
O. J. L. : ‘ No, Feda, a big bird.’
‘ Of course not sparrows, he says. Yes, he does.’
(Feda ( sotto voce) : ‘ Did he hop, Raymond?)
('No, he says you couldn’t call it a hop.’)”
Besides several changes in spelling and punctuation, the ques-
tion of Feda “ Yes, hopping about ?” is changed to an affirmation,
“ Yes, hopping about.’’, which is a very different thing. Perhaps
Sir Oliver was not as rigidly careful as he might have been, but
we need not misrepresent him. His wish was to direct Ray-
mond’s attention to a bird which if he was really present and
could divine what bird of his recollection his father referred to.
he might be able to say something about. Feda’s question might
mean only whether Sir Oliver referred to a species of wild bird
or not. It is liable to the suspicion of “ fishing,” but not more
so than a man who, having disappeared in early youth and now
trying to prove his identity, is asked if he remembers a peculiar
table in the old home, and responds with another question, “ Do
you mean our home in the country or that in the city?”
Now let us go on with the Raymond record exactly where Dr.
Culpin stopped, that we may see how far Sir Oliver’s “ anxiety
to help ” extended and whether the incident which is left con-
temptible in Culpin’s book is quite contemptible when viewed in
its entirety.
Words to which I would specially direct the reader’s atten-
tion, as those which appear significant in light of the facts stated
at the end, are put in italics.
“ O. J. L. : Well, we will go on to something else now; I
don’t want to bother him about birds. Ask him does he remem-
ber Mr. Jackson? [Here the reader thinks that Sir Oliver is
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology."
95
again “ helping ” the purported Raymond. But it may turn out
that he is misleading him.]
“ Yes. Going away, going away, he says. He used to come
to the door. (Feda, sotto voce. — Do you know what he means?
Anyone may come to the door ! ) He used to see him every day,
he says, every day. ( Sotto voce. — What did he do, Yaymond?)
“ He says, nothing. (I can't make out what he says.) He's
thinking. It’s Feda’s fault, he says.
“ O. J. L. : Well, never mind. Report anything he says,
whether it makes sense or not.
“ He says he fell down. He’s sure of that. He hurt himself.
He builds up a letter T, and he shows a gate, a small gate — looks
like a footpath; not one in the middle of a town. Pain in the
hands and arms. [This last sentence is ambiguous, because it
may refer to pain experienced by the trance medium, such as
often occurs when a sickness or death is referred to.]
“ O. J. L. : Was he a friend of the family?
“ No, he says, no. He gives Feda a feeling of tumbling,
again he gives Feda a feeling as though (Feda thinks Yaymond’s
joking) — he laughed. He was well known among us, he says;
and yet, he says, not a friend of the family. Scarce a day passed
without his name being mentioned. He’s joking. Feda feels
sure. He’s making fun of Feda.
" O. J. L. : No, tell me all he says.
*' He says, put him on a pedestal. No, that they put him on
a pedestal. He was considered very wonderful. And he specs
that he wouldn’t have appreciated it, if he had known, but he
didn’t know, he says. Not sure if he ever will, he says. It
sounds nonsense what he says. Feda has the impression that he’s
mixing him up with the bird, because he said something about
‘ bird ’ in the middle of it — just while he said something about
Mr. Jackson, and then he pulled himself up, and changed it again.
Just before he said ' pedestal ’ he said ’ fine bird ’ and then he
stopped. In trying to answer the one, he got both mixed up,
Mr. Jackson and the bird.
“ O. J. L. : How absurd ! Perhaps he is getting tired.
“ He won’t say he got this mixed up! But he did ! Because
he said * fine bird,’ and then he started off about Mr. Jackson.
“ O. J. L. : What about the pedestal ?
96 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ On a pedestal, he said.
“ O. J. L. : Would he like him put on a pedestal?
“ No, he doesn't say nothing.”
Now we have the complete incident, except for the external
facts. Sir Oliver, not being quite so much of an innocent as
many persons of less scientific note than the late President of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science would make
him, says : " Perhaps it was unfortunate that I had mentioned a
bird first, but I tried afterward, by my manner and remarks,
completely to dissociate the name Jackson from what I had asked
before about the bird, and Raymond played up to it."
The fact is that the pet peacock of the family was named Mr.
Jackson. If Sir Oliver had asked, “ Does the name Mr. Jackson
have any relation to the bird ?” can it be doubted that Dr. Culpin
would have quoted it as a further illustration of “ anxiety to help
the medium ”? And is it quite fair to stop quoting right at the
point that there is manifested an anxiety to mislead the medium
in a manner which would not mislead Raymond, if he was really
there with his memories intact, though it might well create ob-
stacles to transmission by rousing subconscious resistance through
the express untrue statements : “ Well, we will go on to something
else now ; I don’t want to bother him about birds ” ?
Mr. Jackson’s “ going away,” by death, had occurred during
the last week. His legs had been rheumatic and troublesome for
some time, and in trying to walk he “ tumbled ” — “ fell.” He
was found dead in a yard with a broken neck, so he certainly
“ hurt himself.” One of the last persons whom Sir Oliver saw
before leaving home for the sitting was a man whom Lady Lodge
had sent to take away the peacock’s body to be stuffed. She
showed him a wooden “ pedestal ” on which she thought it might
be placed. The remarks which impressed “ Feda ” as joking, and
which certainly do have the appearance of persiflage and yet seem
peculiarly relevant, struck Sir Oliver as being quite in the vein of
his son’s humor.
The sitter assented to “ Feda’s " surmise that Raymond was
getting the bird and Mr. Jackson “ mixed up,” by saying “ How
absurd! Perhaps he is getting tired.” Suppose that “ Mr. Jack-
son ” had not been relevant to the bird, we should have seen this
remark quoted as an example of “ anxiety to help the medium.”
“ Spiritualism and the New Psychology.”
97
But as it is, we hear nothing about it from Dr. Culpin. And
suppose that " Feda ” had gone on and said “ Yes, Yaymond says
that he was mixed up, that I misunderstood him," our critic
would hardly have continued silent. But what Feda actually
says is “ He won’t say he got this mixed up !’’
It does not seem to be Sir Oliver's way to point out coinci-
dences which are obvious, but the photograph shown with the
text of the peacock on the lawn of the house at Mariemont reveals
him near a “ foot path,” the “ door ” of the house is easily ac-
cessible and the bird would surely come to the door frequently.
Of course he was “ seen ” and “ mentioned ” “ every day."
What T (if it is not an auditory error of Feda for P — in view of
appearances in many records this is not so forced a suggestion as
it seems) means we do not know, or if it means anything, but it
might. “ Put him on a pedestal * * *. He was considered
very wonderful * * * he specs that he wouldn’t have appreci-
ated it if he had known; but he didn’t know * * * not sure if
he ever will,” uttered in a joking way, as Feda suspected, does
sound more appropriate to a gorgeous bird whose remains are
about to be mounted on a pedestal than to a human creature. In
fact the whole combination of particulars coincides with the facts
to such an extent as to be noteworthy unless, indeed, it is common
for there to be a Mr. Jackson who is in the habit of coming to
the door of a certain house, is seen by its inmates every day, is
mentioned by them daily with scarcely an exception yet is not
exactly what one usually means by the word “ friend,” is known
to have tumbled, fallen and got hurt, has been or is to be put on a
pedestal without appreciating or even knowing it, and is going
or is gone.
Whatever my opinion of this incident may be, my purpose
here and now is not to show that it is a certainly supernormal
one, but to show that it is quite other than it appears after Dr.
Culpin has juggled with it. He deceives the unwary reader into
thinking that Sir Oliver was anxious to help the medium, whereas
he was not so cautious at first as he might have been and so set
at work deliberately to mislead her. Dr. Culpin fools the reader
into thinking that the incident is a ridiculous one and that he has
pricked the bubble, whereas it is an impressive one whose chief
difficulties for normal solution he has not lightened a particle.
98 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
My intelligent readers will entertain well-grounded sus-
picions of the " analyses ” of other incidents from Raymond,
but we have not space to analyze these in turn. Their author,
by the way, adding impudence to malpractice, is fond of using
such suggestive words and phrases as “ garbled ” and “ garb-
ling ” (pp. 116, 118, 120, 121, 122), “distorted account” (122)
and " add or subtract to make the result emphatic ” (116).
There is much in the book about conscious deception, notor-
ious fraud and subliminal vagary which is true, though element-
ary. But, in addition to the constantly unfair treatment of
printed records, and the amusing assumption of intellectual su-
periority which characterizes psychoanalysts, Christian Scientists
and those who look on psychical researchers from the seats of
the scornful, there is ever-recurrent reasoning from the particular
to the general, the assumption that the character of the entire
content of a circle must be determined by that of an arbitrarily
drawn smaller circle which it circumscribes.
This article is worth the space it occupies, simply because
there are many other persons besides Dr. Culpin, whose standing
inclines one to look to what they say bearing upon psychical re-
search with respect, but who forfeit that respect by their special-
ized ignorance and by their unfairness. We long for the most
acid criticism of supposed supernormal claims, provided it is
conscious of and respects the facts and observes the principles
of logic. Such a discussion will be given an honorable place in
the Journal, if it ever puts in an appearance. But it is hardly
possible to find a book or article which is blatantly skeptical of
every form of the supernormal, and which does not by its inad-
vertent exposures of ignorance of the evidence which the author
ought to be familiar with as his warrant for writing at all upon
the subject, by its mutilations and suppressions of such evidence
as the writer has stumbled upon and by its infantile general-
ization and rheumatic reasoning, glaringly illustrate what Dr.
Culpin insists upon so much, namely the human tendency, under
the spell of preposessions, to “ logic-tight compartments.”
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist.
99
THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST.*
By E. J. Dingwall.
This book gives an account of Sir Arthur's tour in Australia
and New Zealand in 1920-1921, where he gave a series of lectures
upon spiritualistic phenomena and philosophy. The book is
popular in style and is likely to appeal to all those who are desir-
ous of becoming acquainted with spiritualistic activity in other
parts of the globe. Sir Arthur is essentially a propagandist; he
looks at things invariably from the spiritualist standpoint, is im-
patient of criticism, and when in doubt the spirits get the benefit.
This being so, his account of his trip will be found to contain
incidents the evidence for the supernormal character of which
would scarcely appeal to the scientific man. It is a pity that in a
few cases the details of the author’s experience have not been
given so that the reader can get an idea as to the value of the oc-
currence. For example he says that he “ dreamed the name of the
ship which was to take us to Australia, rising in the middle of the
night and writing it down in pencil on my cheque book. I wrote
Nadera, but it was actually Naldera. I had never heard that such
a ship existed until I visited the P. & O. office * * *” (p. 76).
This incident he apparently takes as an example of “ direct spirit
intervention,” but he omits to tell us what was the date of his
dream, the crucial point in the whole story. As he sailed on
August 13, 1920, the point of course is that the Naldera was
advertised to sail in the London Times on June 28th, 1920, and
many times after that date, so if the dream occurred after the
first announcement its value as a supernormal communication
would be nil.
During his visit. Sir Arthur relates his experience with a
great number of mediums and appears to have witnessed some
remarkable phenomena in the course of his travels. He had some
sittings with Charles Bailey, the well-known apport medium, and
it need hardly be added that he was convinced and believes “ Mr.
“The Wanderings of a Spiritualist. By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
New York; George H. Doran Co., 1921. Pp. xi + 299. Price $2.50 net.
100 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Charles Bailey to be upon occasion a true medium, with a very
remarkable gift for apports” (p. 103.) It is true he is aware
of the Grenoble fiasco, and admits the possibility that Bailey did
buy the birds from the parties who declared they sold them to
him. But Bailey declared that he did not know French and had
no French money and this, Sir Arthur thinks, makes the exposure •
“ unsatisfactory " and creates “ difficulties.” With regard to the
language “ difficulty ” I am at a loss to understand in what this
consists since the woman who sold the birds said that she knew
English well and that Bailey had addressed her in that tongue.
As to the money, what prevented Bailey from selling some per-
sonal article before he bought the birds? Such "difficulties"
are self-created and show little appreciation of the fact that
Bailey has been investigated in London, and when adequate tests
were employed the phenomena failed to convince the observers of
their supernormal character. In the author's own seances the
usual forged Assyrian tablets appeared and another “ difficulty ”
is created over the question as to how they were got through the
customs. However the fact of their being forgeries is not
questioned and the author finds comfort in the supposition that
“ to the transporting agency it is at least possible that the forg-
ery, steeped in recent human magnetism, is more capable of being
handled than the original taken from a mound ” (p. 103). The
other explanation is that somehow or other the tablets passed
through the customs in company with the other articles which
are smuggled in every year.
In Australia Sir Arthur got into touch with Mr. M. J. Bloom-
field, the medical clairvoyant, who, it is said, gives remarkable
diagnoses. There are signs that the medical profession is at last
waking up from its lethargy and it is to be hoped that within a
few years cases like that of Mr. Bloomfield will be properly in-
vestigated and the results published. It was in Melbourne that
Sir Arthur met Mr. Tozer, the chairman of the spiritualistic
movement who, like Mr. MacFarlane, of Southsea, England,
holds what is called a Rescue Circle, which has been formed for
the purpose of saving bad spirits, which seems very kind and
charitable. The medium becomes entranced and is immediately
possessed by a wise spirit who says that he is going to bring bad
spirits for reformation. Then the bad spirit comes along, is
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist.
101
reasoned with and consoled and finally he accepts the fact that
he is a spirit. Great sinners come for help. Sir Arthur gives us
an account of the lament professing to come from Alva and it is
sanguinary enough. Ancient clerics are sometimes brought for
consolation and are enraged at the attitude of the control, a
Chinaman, who when a subject is particularly refractory puts him
away saying “ He stupid man. Let him wait. He learn better.”
At Sydney Sir Arthur experienced “ an ether apport.” Over-
tired he had tried to sleep in the afternoon but was unable to do
so. Suddenly from the open window came in a very distinct and
pungent smell of ether which soon acted in such a way that a
sound sleep intervened and Sir Arthur awoke fresh for the even-
ing meeting. Such incidents are convenient and useful, as also
was the occasion when a damp slide dried from the centre instead
of from the edges, thus revealing the spirit photograph which
was the object of the exhibition. Such cases are instances, ac-
cording to the author, of direct spirit intervention, and it seems
surprising that if the material world is so open to their advances,
the spirits do not make further experiments on a large scale for
the benefit of a questioning humanity.
The incidents narrated above are typical of the author’s
standpoint. He acts as head of the Spiritualistic publicity depart-
ment, beating the big drum, and the people come flocking to the
standard of their knight. No doubt the scheme is well meant,
but it cannot fail in the end to cast discredit both upon him and
upon his followers. It would not be so harmful were not spirit-
ualistic pretensions founded upon alleged scientific evidence and
buttressed by a mass of quite clearly fraudulent practices. If
Spiritualism were merely a religion based upon the usual so-called
evidence adduced by students of apologetics, it would find no
place in the concern of level-headed scientific men. But Spiritual-
ism claims to prove its doctrines scientifically and presents a
series of phenomena as evidence for the existence of spirits. This
in itself demands consideration, and a further complexity arises
when we have to admit that many phenomena of an alleged spir-
itistic nature are certainly supernormal and in many instances the
theory of the survival of personality after death seems as reason-
able as any other and better than most. Once however the
probability of spirits is conceded by scientific men (and every
102 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
true scientist is bound to concede their possibility) spirits are
immediately seen by the less critical in every corner, apports
become a daily occurrence and Napoleon confesses to every
neurotic servant girl who takes up automatic writing. Indeed
there is danger of a wholesale reversion to primitive supersti-
tion should the wild men of spiritualism continue their way un-
checked. Scientific psychical researchers are beset by foes on
both sides. On the one side are the McCabes, Clodds and Rinns
who demand miracles, and are surprised that they cannot be
demonstrated as easily as growing potatoes, whilst on the other
hand are the Spiritualist champions with their assertions that
supernormal occurrences are common and that it is only through
purblind obstinacy that psychical researchers fail to recognize it.
Sir Arthur tells us a story of a Maori seance culled from a
book on old New Zealand which is no doubt that by a Pakeha
Maori (». e., Judge F. E. Maning) published in 1863.1 In a
Maori settlement the author attended a seance for the direct
voice, and thinking that he would stump the fraudulent priest he
called out to the spirit to tell them where a book was concealed.
The answer came back, the hiding place was examined and the
book found, which Sir Arthur takes as good evidence for the
supernormal character of the event. We do not wish to quarrel
with this interpretation without knowing the facts. What is more
important for us is to recognize frankly the enormous importance
of the part played by spirits in the lives of primitive peoples.
They dwelt among the groves and by the running waters, they
influenced the crops and the weather and presided over the
hearths and homes of men. It was only through the gradual in-
fluence of scientific thought that the spirits withdrew into the
fastnesses and even in modem times the same ideas found a
fearful fruition in the agonies of the witchcraft trials. It is a
1 The 1863 Auckland edition gives the author as F. E. Maning.
For a few examples of similar seances among primitive peoples see:
Castren, A. Reiseberichte, 1845-9 (St. Petersburg, 1856), p. 173; Ellis,
W. Polynesian Researchers (London, 1859), E 4061 Drake, F. S. The
Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1884), I, 155; Short-
land E. Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders ( London,
1854), p. 92; Johnstone, J. C. Maoria (London, 1874), p. 25; Callaway,
H. The Religious System of the Amazulu (Folklore Society, XV,
1884), pp. 265, 348, 370, etc.
The Wanderings of o Spiritualist.
103
serious thing to bring back into the minds of men ideas, the
result of which must inevitably lead to superstition and intoler-
ance. We do not deny the possibility of the correctness of the
older interpretation of certain events. Indeed we believe that
many modern ideas need revision in the light of psychical re-
search. But that revision ought to be begun only when the facts
warrant it and not before. The facts which psychical researchers
have brought to light do not warrant any such wholesale revision
as Sir Arthur would have us believe. Indeed the few facts that
have been established are in danger of being swamped by the
mass of sentimental theories which are as common amongst Spir-
itualists as amongst other religious organizations. The fact that
Spiritualists claim to have solved the mystery of life after death
must in itself make the subject of great importance to vast num-
bers of persons who desire immortality. The bulk of civilized
people are not scientific, and have little or no appreciation of
scientific procedure and method. This being so, the apparent
slowness of scientific men to accept new revelations and vital
messages is apt to annoy enthusiastic persons who believe that
when the existence of spirits is established the mystery of the
universe no longer exists. Between the opposing camps of
credulity and scepticism, the psychical researcher has to find his
way as best he can, his task rendered doubly difficult by the fact
that Spiritualists, through their hold on mediums, are able to
withhold from him the means for adequate investigations. It is
for the champions of Spiritualism to decide how far they will
pursue the dangerous course they have been following for the
last few years. Abusing their critics and hindering investiga-
tion is not likely to assist their cause, nor will it help matters to
exhibit their own mental characteristics as has been done in the
volume under review. It may be that the dangers accruing from
their actions may be averted before much real damage has been
done. Such a result can only be achieved by constant watchful-
ness on the part of those who have the sense to view the problems
of psychical research in a calm and dispassionate manner.
104 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENTS.
APPARENT COMMUNICATION
The following purported message seems unusually well
guarded from possibility that any of the living parties to the
experiments could have had knowledge of the facts stated. And
so far as the description of the contents of boxes packed by per-
sons then deceased proceeded it is perhaps as correct as the
alleged communicator could have given, had she been living,
considering the time elapsed and the circumstance that she her-
self did not do all the packing. Even the fact that it was a
band of lilies around the pitcher rather than a plain band might
not have been recollected. Of course we cannot tell what she
would have recollected, if living, but living persons do deviate
as much in their memories. Each reader must judge for himself
whether or not it is likely that such an amount of coincidence
mixed with so little error could have come about by chance.
New York City, July 22, 1920.
In the spring of 1917 my mother, Mrs. Minnie W. Daniels, and
my father, Mr. Henry Everett Case Daniels, decided to break up
their little apartment in Detroit and spend the rest of their lives
with my grandmother, Mrs. O. S. Williams, at the old family home
at Clinton, New York.
Consequently in May of that year they packed up all their house-
hold belongings except those they sold and had them sent on to
Clinton. These were put upstairs (only one or two boxes, etc.,
being left downstairs) in the large bam. My father and mother
reached Clinton early in June and the end of June my mother
became sick, was taken to a Utica hospital and on the 12th of
August died of typhoid fever. Nothing was ever done about the
boxes or barrels, as my sister and I put off unpacking them as long
as possible and we never even looked at them until this summer.
My mother had always been interested in things pertaining to
Psychical Research and a year or two before her death she and my
aunt (her only sister, Mrs. A. G. Hopkins) invested in a ouija
board and used to use it when my mother was visiting in Clinton.
D'QIliJWl uy Google
Incidents.
105
They never followed up anything they got, however. After her
death we used it a good deal and my husband and I also bought one
and used it here. We received many very beautiful messages but
nothing of an evidential nature. We asked her to try to send some-
thing of that sort and she apparently understood and tried to do so.
For instance, at one time she began telling us anecdotes of her child-
hood ; things that happened to my aunt and mother. She would say,
for example : “ Ask Aunt Sophie to tell you about ” Some
of these things my aunt remembered and some not.
Finally on the evening of Feb. 22nd, 1920, my husband and I
were using ouija, and we asked my mother if she couldn't give us
something evidential. The following was the result :
First Communication.
Feb. 22nd, 1920, 122 East 82nd St., N. Y. Ouija. Present were my
husband, Mr. Martin A. Schenck. and myself.
Witnesses: (Mrs.) Janet Daniels Schenck, Martin A. Schenck.
Q. Can’t you give us something evidential ?
A. Receive this message in the greatest earnestness. Have Hat-
tie (this was my sister who was spending the year in Clinton) look
in the box in the bam where the kitchen things are. There you will
find a little high pitcher which I bought after you all left Detroit.
Make her do this.
Q. Can you describe it any more ?
A. It is of crockery with a blue band.
(I said to my husband — “ It’s wonderful, isn’t it?" For none of
all our family, although they had been thinking very much about it,
had ever thought of all those things in the barn as evidential material
until my mother suggested it in this way. And yet no one knew
what was in them except my father and mother — both dead.)
A. Use everything I send.
(I said to my husband: “ I wish she could tell something else.”)
A. In the box of bodes all the Dickens are with the Scotts. All
the old children’s books are in with Hattie's. Take out the heavy
books, as they are getting warped. Make Hattie look tomorrow.
Q. Shall I write her tonight? (The board became very excited.)
A. Yes. It is very exciting.
Q. (It ran off the board.) Do you want to say good-night?
A. Yes, I must go now.
Q. Are you well and happy?
A. Yes, dear.
Q. Are you ever with us ; near us ?
A. Yes, very constantly. Good-night.
We mailed this message to my sister that night, but she was not
106 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
well and in some way the thing slid and nothing was done until my
husband and I were in Clinton over July 4th. On Sunday, July 4th,
rny sister, my husband, my cousin (Miss Mary D. Hopkins) and
myself all went upstairs in the bam. There were all the barrels and
boxes. On one of the barrels we found labeled, in my mother’s
writing, “ kitchen utensils.” This we unpacked, taking out some
twenty odd things all of which my sister and I recollected perfectly,
although I had not been in their Detroit apartment since 1908, and
my sister not for five years or so. Then we came upon a pitcher
which neither my sister nor I had even seen before ; it was 8 inches
in height and 14 inches around, and was made of crockery, but in-
stead of a blue band it had blue fleur-de-lis. [Picture attached.]
Signatures of witnesses follow:
(Mrs.) Janet Daniels Schenck.
Martin A. Schenk.
Harriet McD. Daniels.
Mary D. Hopkins.
On Tuesday, July 6th, my sister and I continued the unpacking.
There in a box labeled in my father’s handwriting were the Dickens
and the Scotts packed together. There were also two or three other
sets packed with them, but there were also other sets packed in other
boxes. In another box (not labeled) we found all our old children’s
books packed with my sister Hattie’s. We did not find any of the
heavy books warped, but we did find two which had become
mildewed.
Points Correct. Points Not Correct.
1. Barrel marked kitchen uten- 1. It did not have a blue band,
sils. but blue fleur-de-lis. (See
2. Pitcher found which neither communication No. Three.)
of us had seen. 2. No books were found warped,
3. Pitcher was small and high. but two were found mildewed.
4. Made of crockery.
5. The color of the decoration
was correct.
6. The Dickens and Scotts were
together.
7. The children’s books packed
with Hattie’s.
v
Incidents.
107
Second Communication.
Witnesses (signed in respective handwriting) : (Mrs.) Janet Dan-
iels Schenck, Martin A. Schenck, Mary D. Hopkins, Sophie W.
Hopkins, Harriet McD. Daniels, Georgia B. Scollard, Elizabeth
S. Scollard.
July 3rd, 1920. Clinton, N. Y. Home of my grandmother, Mrs.
Williams. Present : My aunt, Mrs. Hopkins ; my cousin, Miss Mary
Hopkins ; my sister, Miss Harriet Daniels ; my husband, myself and
Mrs. Scollard and her daughter Elizabeth, who was to write for us.
Automatic Writing.
“ All is well. Minnie (my mother) has much to tell you, which
you might like to hear. She speak. My dear family. You are
assembled together to hear from me again and I am glad to speak.
What should you most like to know? You know that I am busy that
I am happy and that I am separated from things which breed in-
harmony. Ask me what you have uppermost in your hearts, my
dears freely. Minnie and mother.
Q. Do you mind if we ask for definite things — things of an evi-
dential nature?
A. Yes, I understand your question. Here is the reply. I am
glad to furnish you with any evidence which I can. Of course you
might ask me directly. You understand don’t you, Daughter dear,
that I am now dealing with the less material evidences. That which
I can give I shall gladly give. Ask some particular question. Refer
perhaps to those things in the bam. They are the things I am most
familiar with. First let me tell you that I have seen Rachel’s
daughter Mary. She is very lovely. I am right here with you
though you don't perceive me and stand back of Elizabeth’s chair.
Janet, ask your question while I wait. Mother.
(The Mary spoken of was my cousin Mary Williams, who died
in 1911. Elizabeth did not know her name.)
Q. Can you give us details about the sampler (a family posses-
sion made over a hundred years ago of which we are very proud).
Also (Mice you spoke of a “ lost list ” of the barn things.
A. All which is to be given I believe you will find to be true. I
made a record or list of those barrels but I mislaid it. In the con-
fusion it was lost in Detroit and was burned. You’ll not find it of
this I am assured. Fragments of it perhaps float about somewhere
I do not know. The dear old sampler which we used to prize so
highly is in a small box and is toward the bottom. I have showed
Elizabeth the box. I do not remember how the box is labeled. She
will be able to describe it. The sampler is wrapped in brown paper
and it is just possible that one comer of the frame may have become
cracked. There are some pictures in the box and a few softly bound
books. These things were so packed because the most choice ar-
108 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
tides are there. That is the fact as I remember it that I directed it
to be done. I may possibly be wrong about the size of the box, but
it is not large at least. What else may I tell. I will remain with
you awhile. Minnie.
That is the end. Betty.
We took Elizabeth out to the bam at the end of the evening, but
we only had little flash lights and she was unable to identify the box.
She seemed to feel that it was upstairs, so really only looked there
thoroughly. On Tuesday, July 6th, my sister and I continued the
unpacking. We unpacked all the things we thought might have the
sampler, but did not find it. We then went down on the main floor
and on the west side (see Communication No. 3) we opened a box.
This measures 16 inches through ; 36 inches long and 31 inches wide.
There we found the sampler wrapped in brown paper. (The only
box of all we had unpacked where newspaper had not been used)
and packed with all our other “ choicest ” pictures. No softly bound
books, however.
The frame was all right but the frame of one of the pictures
near it was cracked in one comer. (Sample of paper and picture of
box enclosed.)
Signatures of witnesses :
(Mrs.) Janet Daniels Schenck.
Harriet McD. Daniels.
Points Correct . Point Not Correct.
1. Not a large boot. 1. No softly bound books.
2. Sampler found wrapped in [This might be explained by
brown paper (unique fact). the fact that she apparently
3. Packed with choice pictures — did not pack this box herself.]
the best she had.
It is interesting that her uncertainty as regards the size of the
box, the label, etc., could easily have come from not having done it
herself but having “ directed it done.”
Q. Have you seen Ray? (An aunt who had died two months
before.)
A. I have seen Rachel but not frequently. She is not near me
but we communicate, and visit at intervals. Her true and beautiful
Incidents.
109
soul has lifted her into the mountain tops of spiritual understanding
and she wears white which is only softly shaded with gray. Eliza-
beth will tell you the meaning of this as I have not time. I am
dressed or enveloped in pale yellow but I haven’t attained the white
yet. Ray is near to-night and you might speak with her if you liked.
Minnie.
Ouija is now used by Elizabeth alone. Elizabeth is firmly blind-
folded and for the most part used only one hand placed lightly on
ouija. It moved so rapidly that Mrs. Scollard was unable to take
down letters ; then my husband tried and gave up, and then my sister
and then I finally took down letter by letter not trying to make the
words until afterward.
“ Betty wait. When you all come here I shall meet you. This
place is very pretty. I have seen Minnie. She is well busy and
happy. She has been given the work she loves. Have you anything
to ask me?"
Q. Have you any messages for the girls (her daughters) ?
A. I want to speak to Rachel.
Q. She is not here.
A. I know. Tell her not to grieve for me.
Q. Do you approve of what we have done (in regard to her
affairs) ?
A. I do for the most part. I would like to have Elbe (her hus-
band) go to stay with his daughters in turn. I wanted him to give
the place up some time ago. That is all.
Third Communication.
Witnesses: (Mrs.) Janet Daniels Schenck, Martin A. Schenck.
July 4th, 1920. Clinton, N. Y. My husband, Martin A. Schenck,
and myself. Ouija.
Q. Can you tell us anything more about the box where the
sampler is (this was two days before we looked for it) ?
A. It is in the box Martin moved.
Q. But he only moved two upstairs and we unpacked those this
morning.
A. He turned it over. Go to the west side. Keep track of mark-
ings. Janet, go now. It is very exciting.
Q. Did you like it Saturday night speaking through Elizabeth ?
A. I did not feel it was so intimate.
Q. Was the pitcher we found the one you meant ?
A. Yes, but the word was wrong.
Q. What did you mean?
A. Blossoms.
Q. Can you give us any more information?
A. The best eating dishes except those we unpacked (referring
110 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
** , »
to one barrel which she had sent on a year ahead in order to give
me some when I was married) are all together in one barrel.
Q. Labeled ?
A. Yes. Do go and do it
Q. My husband : “ Let’s try and get something more first.”
A. Martin go and help little Janet. Forget I am not with you
all the time. I was with you last night and it was so lovely to see
you all.
In regard to the box the sampler was in being the one " moved ”
by my husband — he was unable to recollect about it. On Tuesday,
July 6, my sister and I found a barrel marked in my mother’s writ-
ing " Best Dishes.” We were amazed because we supposed she had
unpacked all the best dishes the summer before from that one barrel
for me. There we found all the rest of the “ best dishes.”
Signatures of witnesses :
(Mrs.) Janet Daniels Schenck.
Harriet McD. Daniels.
Points Correct.
1. Barrel found labeled.
2. Best remaining eating dishes
all found there.
Point Not Certainly Correct.
1. Uncertainty as to whether or
not the boot had been turned
by my husband.
>031
Book Reviews.
Ill
BOOK REVIEWS.
The Immortality of Animals and the Relation of Man as Guardian,
from a Biblical and Philosophical Hypothesis. By E. D. Buckner,
M.D. G. W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1903. Pp. 291.
The immortality o £ man is assumed throughout this work, which is
dedicated to all various Human Organizations; and the argument ex-
tends survival to the animals. The first portion deals with the Bible
mentioning: the similarity of the creation of man and animals in
Genesis, the animals in the Garden of Eden, that the atonement is broad
enough to cover animals, the human character of Jesus, and various
passages indicating that animals will be found in heaven. Appeal is
next made to natural theology; Balaam's ass, Elijah’s ravens, Jonah’s
whale and Daniel’s lions being instances where the animals were dealt
with by the Lord as if they had souls. Animals direct their move-
ments intelligently as men do; and on the evolution theory, men them-
selves are descended from animals. The higher animals show affection,
sympathy, grief, fidelity and many other human traits; they should
therefore be treated kindly and humanely.
It seems as if the author might have made his case stronger by going
further. If anything survives, why not everything, as is taught in
various systems? Why exclude vegetables for example? For how
about those creatures which are plants in one generation and animals in
the next? How low in the scale is the author prepared to go? If dogs
and horses are to survive why not oysters and amoebae? Indeed an
amoeba, if not destroyed, has a kind of immortality already through the
process of fission.
The author does not discuss these questions. This book is the at-
tempt to find support for the dictates of his kindly nature.
Prescott F. Hall.
Spiritualism. A Personal Experience and A Warning. By Coulson
Kernahan. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1920. Pp. 59.
The writer starts by saying that he believes that God has “ locked the
door which separates this life from the next,” but declares that against
psychical research he has " nothing whatever to say," a concession to
the growing respectability of psychical research sometimes made by
Roman Catholic theologians, but less consistent, for the latter do not
hold the dogma of the fast-closed door, but only think it unwise to at-
tempt to open it
But the statement that science concerns itself. only with "physical
laws and facts,” written in the same connection, is not correct Psychol-
ogy concerns itself largely with mental facts and laws, and so does
psychical research.
It is unsafe to argue from the silence of anyone, as is done in the
case of Lazarus, whose silence as to what he experienced during the
three days in the tomb is supposed to teach a lesson which would be as
112 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
applicable to psychical researchers as to Spiritualists. Perhaps, if Laz-
arus really died, he remembered nothing, or if he remembered, he may
have felt that his experience was " too sacred ” to relate, as many
people foolishly feel in our day.
The author tells of his own experience with a medium, which in-
cluded being told things known only to himself and seeing what he
leads his readers to infer was the actual face of the poet Heine, and
apparently this experience was so evidential to him that he abjured all
further experiments (1), presumably because he feared that he was
picking the lock of the locked door. And yet he was doing only what he
has “ nothing whatever to say ” against, on the part of psychical re-
searchers. He should, then, have joined the Society and gone ahead.
The reviewer would cheerfully attend a seance if he knew a devil would
appear, if only for the practical purpose of making a first-hand investiga-
tion of the characteristics of the species.
The author foresees when we shall all be telepathing “almost with-
out effort * * * all over the world.” In the meantime, “ all that Mr.
Marconi does is to send a THOUGHT across continents or across seas.”
Of course, Mr. Marconi does no such thing. If this were the case, we
should not have to wait for the telepathic millenium, — it would be here.
This is a well-meaning little book, but it is superstitious. “ I would
rather remain unenlightened on matters which God has hidden from us.”
The notion that we can outwit God by swindling him out of secrets
which he had expressly hidden from us is rank superstition.
W. F. P.
V .OO^K
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOCIETY
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc.), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and clairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of “ mediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering thereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
ASSOCIATES have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal, and of consulting the Library. The annual fee is
$5.00. A person may become a LIFE ASSOCIATE by the payment of
$100.00.
MEMBERS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal and Proceedings, and of consulting the Library. The
annual fee is $10.00. A person may become a LIFE MEMBER by the
payment of $200.00.
FELLOWS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving the publications of the same and of special facilities in the use
of the Library. The annual fee is $25.00. A person may become a LIFE
FELLOW by the payment of $500.00.
PATRONS have all the privileges of the Society, those above named
and such as shall hereafter accrue, and are constituted such for life by
the payment of $1,000.
FOUNDERS have the privileges of the Society, those already enumer-
ated and such as shall hereafter accrue, and become such for life by the
payment of $5,000.
ALL MEMBERSHIPS date from January 1st, though persons who
join in November or December will receive the Journals of those
months free.
Contributions for or communications regarding the contents of the
Journal, also reports and letters relating to psychical experiences and
investigations should be directed to DR. WALTER F. PRINCE, Editor
and Principal Research Officer. Business and general correspondence
should be addressed to GERTRUDE O. TUBBY, Secretary.
Editorial. Research and Business Offices, 44 East 23rd St., New York, N. Y.
A' A’
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
* j
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corporation and is supported by contributions from its members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute is perpetual
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The form which such dedication
should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
draft
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR TIIE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
Research, a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, the sum
of dollars,* in trust however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,! a branch of
said corporation, and for its purposes only."
• In cue the bequest is real estate, or other specific items of property, they should be
sufficiently described for identification.
t In case the donor desires the funds used for Psycho-therapeutics this should read:
“ in trust, however, for the benefit of ita branch for the investigation of Psyche-
therapeutics and for such purposes only."
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. March, 1922 No. 3
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
Experimental Fund ......... 113
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Antecedent Probabilities. By Miles Menander Dawson . .114
More Experiments in ‘‘Telekinesis.” By E. J. Dingwall . . 117
INCIDENTS:
An Evidential Case of Spirit Photography (Five Illustrations). By
Allerton S. Cushman, A. M., Ph. D . . . . . 132
Further on “The Riddle of a Clock” (By Judge ) . . 148
CONVERSAZIONE:
Some Odd Particulars in the Hope Psychographs . . . .152
BOOK REVIEWS:
Spiritualism: A Popular History From 1847 (Joseph McCabe);
‘ Trait6 de Graphologie Scientiiique” (Dr. Paul Joire) ;
Claude’s Book (Mrs. L. Kelway-Bamber) ; The Religion of
the Spirit World (Rev. Prof. G. Hcnslow) .... 157
Published Monthly by the American Society for Psychical Research.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at *4 East 23rd St. New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printinc Company. 12-26 South Water St.. York, Pa.
Changes of Address should be sent to the A. S. P. R.. at the York, Pa., Address.
Entered as eccond-class matter, July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Peniii
the Act of March 8, 1878.
Annual Pec, S5.00. Single Copin. 50 cents. Foreign Pee, £1. la.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc., M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio. Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock. S.B, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Pn.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D, LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fishes, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lvman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner, AM., Smith Col.
Joseph J as trow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D., F.A.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S, LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbolo, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince. M.D, LL.D, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Putin, Ph.D, LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, AM, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
Jdi..
Westoi
Titus Bi
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D.
Titus Bull. M.D.
Miles M. Dawson.
• til > <
Henry Holt
George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Lawson Purdy.
BnI
VOLUME XVI— No. 3
MARCH, 1622
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Paos
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT: 118
OENBRAL ARTICLES
Antecedent Probe bilitie*. By Mile*
Mcnender Da wion . 114
More Experiment* in "Td'kinesis.’*
By E. J. Dingwall .117
INCIDENTS:
CONVERSAZIONE:
BOOK REVIEWS :
Paw
18t
188
187
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer's true name
is withheld, it is preserved on file, and is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
Experimental Fund.
During the period of readjustment following Dr. Hyslop’s
death no call for funds for experimentation was made in the
Journal. Through the kindness of a few persons the two branches
of the Department of Research had not quite $800.00 to work
with during the year 1921. No large series like those which were
formerly carried out each year could be undertaken. But we
must no longer be limited to old material and the results of mere
desultory experiments. The Department must do work in the
former, larger way, with selected rare subjects which seldom are
to be found close at hand. Fourteen hundred dollars are required
to cany out the year’s program. About half of this amount has
already been collected. We need early contributors or pledges to
the amount of $700.00.
114 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research .
ANTECEDENT PROBABILITIES.
Miles Menander Dawson
Two things respecting psychical research are often spoken
of as antecedently improbable, viz., that, except as induced by
trickery, the extraordinary phenomena occur at all, and that, if
they occur, they result from activities of intelligences once in-
carnate.
The opinion that it is antecedently improbable that any such
phenomena actually result from spirit agencies, may really be that
it is antecedently improbable that conscious intelligence continues
after death, or that, though it so continue, it is antecedently im-
probable that it will desire to communicate, or, if it desire, will be
able to do so.
This age is called incredulous by those who are at the fore-
front, because these have transferred their trust from priests to
scientists. In such transfer, they have acquired the notion that
the continuation of conscious intelligence after death is antece-
dently most improbable.
Does not the opinion that it is next to impossible that con-
scious intelligence should continue, flow from the notion that
belief in immortality rests upon the same superstitions which gave
support to the other old wives’ tales which science has over-
thrown ?
But the reasoning upon which that conviction rests, is that
of a man who also concluded two thousand five hundred years ago
that, contrary to the evidence of the senses, the earth is spherical,
that it is held in place by invisible forces, and that, when seen
from without, there are seen not continents and oceans, but
prismatic colors.
Study of the demonstration by the hard-headed Greek, Soc-
rates, that conscious intelligence persists after death — for which
he had more and solider grounds than for his inference that the
earth is a globe — is convincing that this is at least antecedently
probable. The contrary impression is due to the same illusory
Antecedent Probabilities.
115
sense perception which for so many centuries held back acceptance
of the truth that the earth is spherical. It may be rehearsed thus :
“ Our friend was visibly alive, and we heard his voice, and
felt the pressure of his hand ; therefore, he existed. He now is
visibly inert, he does not speak, and there is no response to our
grasp of hand; therefore he no longer exists.”
This reasoning is natural enough for the unthinking; it is
puerile for a man of science. And upon nothing more substantial
rests the notion that it is antecedently improbable that conscious
intelligence continues after death.
We see our friend no more. When did we see him? What is
there, not now here, that we ever saw? Is it not patent that we
saw, heard, felt the result of his activities? May he not have
ceased such activities of his own free will — or even under neces-
sity— without ceasing to exist? Since it was phenomena we saw,
why assume that the reality behind the phenomena is no more, be-
cause it no longer manifests? Did it always manifest uniformly?
Did it not in life alternate from not manifesting to manifesting?
And did it not manifest in successive stages as infant, child,
youth, man ? And if so, why may it not now cease to manifest as
any of these ? And why may there not be other and other stages ?
Is it then antecedently improbable that discamate intelligences
desire to communicate with the incarnate, or that, if they so de-
sire, there may not be means by which they can do so?
If it be antecedently probable that conscious intelligence con-
tinues, the urge for communication must be most powerful
But if antecedently probable that conscious intelligence con-
tinues and craves communication, then whether or not there are
means through which there may be communication, is a fact to be
determined by investigation.
Phenomena that indicate this possibility are not a feature of
daily experience of human beings. But there are many other
phenomena of which this could be said, which, notwithstanding,
have proved to be of the highest significance.
In the earliest stages of man’s development, as regards all
who are bom upon the earth, there was, as now, a period of in-
ability to communicate, another of dawning recognition of the
meaning of the simplest hailings by motions and imitations, then
one of slow divination of the signification of spoken words, yet
116 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
another of long training, often but imperfectly successful, in the
use of written and printed characters, and a later rush of improve-
ments in ways of communicating from a distance.
But, if all this slowly developed through countless ages, and
now repeats itself in the development of every child bom upon the
earth, then, if it be antecedently probable that conscious intelli-
gence persists after death, and that there is an urge to communi-
cate, what is there in the fact that it is not a matter of everyday
experience to make it antecedently improbable that there are
means by which such communication may take place?
This has direct bearing upon the assumed antecedent improba-
bility that the extraordinary phenomena purporting to be psychi-
cal are ever experienced, except as the result of trickery. That
assumption rests, in turn, upon the fact that such are not matters
of everyday experience of all men; but that fact merely calls
for great care in ascertaining that such phenomena, not produced
by trickery, really occur, and, this once demonstrated, for patient
collection and correlation of such phenomena, to the end that
the cause of them may be discovered and demonstrated.
It is perhaps sufficiently seen from the foregoing that the
reason why the objection of antecedent improbability is usually
brought against there being any such phenomena, other than those
produced by trickery, is this: The objector is thus enabled to as-
sume that the existence of conscious intelligence after death, its
desire for communication and that there may be means of com-
munication, are most improbable, without directly saying this,
and thus inviting an examination of the grounds for such con-
clusions.
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis”
117
MORE EXPERIMENTS IN “ TELEKINESIS.”*
By E. J. Dingwall.
For many years it has been believed that from the human
organism issued a vital or nervous fluid or force which was capa-
ble of being measured by suitable instruments. This force was
supposed to be of the same nature as that exhibited by physical
mediums and it was thought that everyone possessed it in at
least some small degree. For the purpose of measuring this
force a great many instruments were devised with the common
property of having a part delicately balanced or poised so that
the slightest external stimulus sufficed to set it in motion. Gen-
erally speaking this part of the apparatus consisted of a needle or
pointer balanced on a rigid point and often suspended over a dial
upon which markings were drawn for the purposes of measure-
ment. The experimenter then brought his hands or his body into
close proximity with the apparatus, and under these conditions
the pointers were seen to move in various ways, the movements
being ascribed by the inventor of the apparatus to a vital or
nervous force flowing from the body of the experimenter. At-
tempts were made to meet the objections of sceptics that heat or
electrical attraction were responsible by cutting out these agencies
by different methods but with only a varying degree of success.
It was found that isolating the apparatus from external influences
was not conducive to good results, and so difficulty was experi-
enced in allowing for such influences as heat radiated from the
hands, air currents in the room, etc. The subject of this vital
fluid was especially interesting to the exponents of animal mag-
netism and kindred subjects, the action on external objects in the
physical world confirming many of their own theories of mag-
netism and magnetic currents. The magnetiser, Lafontaine, who
toured in England in 1841, devised an instrument which consisted
of a simple needle suspended by a thread within a glass vase,
the movements of which when the operator approached being
*See Journal American S. P. R., Nov., 1920, pp. 534-555.
118 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ascribed by Lafontaine to magnetic influences. A similar instru-
ment called the Bioscope or Dermoscope, originally intended by
the inventor for other purposes, was used by Dr. Collongues for
measuring nervous force. It consisted of a needle suspended
within a glass lantern, at the side of which were openings for
the subject’s hands, and was similar in form to the more elaborate
apparatus of the ( 1 ) Abbe Fortin, which he styled the Magneto-
meter. This instrument was intended rather as an indicator of
meterological variations than of magnetic force, and is much more
complicated than the simple apparatus of Boirac (a straw sus-
pended on a thread), of Lemoine Moreau (a needle suspended
from a hair), or of Joire's sthenometer which we shall consider
later. More elaborate apparatus was that devised by Puyfontaine
about 1879 for measuring magnetic force and the more recent
apparatus of Mme. Agache Schloemer (2).
For the purposes of illustration and criticism I propose taking
three specimens of such apparatus and shall begin by considering
the instruments devised by M. J, Thore and described in his
booklet Premitre, Deuxitmc ct Troisihne Communications sur
une Nouvelle Force (Dax, 1887).
In 1887 he read a paper before a scientific society in France on
the subject of a “ new force " which he believed that he had dis-
covered. His conclusions were criticized by Sir Wm. Crookes, and
a paper by the latter was published in the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society, 1887, Vol. 178a, pp. 451-469. Thore’s appar-
atus, Crookes says, consisted simply of a cylinder of ivory 24 milli-
meters long and 5 millimeters in diameter, suspended by a single
fibre of cocoon silk so that its axis was accurately in line with the
suspending fibre. This fibre was fixed to a movable support allow-
ing the cylinder to be raised or lowered without sudden jerks which
might rupture the fibre. The apparatus, in a word, was a small pen-
dulum which hung freely over the center of a level table in the
1. For an account of various methods of measuring the alleged vital
force see Dr. Bonnayme’s La Force Psychique (Paris, 1908), for the
loan of which I am indebted to Mr. Hereward Carrington.
2. There are many other similar pieces of apparatus such as that
invented by Gruhen of Berlin, the Biometer of Louis Lucas, Hippolyte
Baraduc and others, and the recording devices of E. S. d’Odiardi
Ditcham, etc.
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis .”
119
middle of a room, having all the windows closed to avoid draughts.
The cylinder having been steadied, a second cylinder of ivory was
gently brought about a millimeter from the first cylinder, vertical, and
parallel to it. The first cylinder was then observed to rotate clock-
wise when the second cylinder was on the left of the first in relation
to the observer facing the apparatus, and in the contrary direction
when the second cylinder was on the right. The motion appeared
only limited by the torsion of the fibre consequent upon the rotation.
Flat screens when placed between the observer and the apparatus
interfered with the phenomena, but a semi-cylindrical screen placed
behind the cylinders so that the observer is opposite the opening re-
versed the direction of rotation. Thore believed that the phe-
nomenon could not be explained by anything except by a new force
emanating from the observer, discounting the possible influence of
air currents, radiant heat, etc. In his criticism of Thore’s experi-
ments and in their duplication Sir William devised some new pieces
of apparatus for the purpose of his researches. He employed
various substances instead of ivory, such as ebonite, box wood, brass
tubing, etc., both polished and coated with lamp black. His experi-
ments led him to the conclusion that the radiant heat emitted from
the face was sufficient to account for the rotations and at one point
in his work he substituted for the face a sheet of moist brown paper
heated to the approximate temperature of the face, which was taken
at 33 degrees C. The results were near enough to prove that there
was nothing special in the human organism beyond radiant heat to
produce the rotation of the cylinders.
We cannot enter into a lengthy description of Crookes’s experi-
ments in this place, it being sufficient to say that Crookes himself
was satisfied that the phenomena were due to radiant heat alone;
blackening the rotating cylinder increased the action whilst black-
ening the stationary cylinder produced a still greater effect. The
rotation in short, was produced by a reaction between the cylinders
caused by the radiant heat emitted from an external source. That
such rotation could be produced equally well without human inter-
vention Crookes showed by mechanically approaching a bottle of hot
water near to the stationary cylinder and observing the movements
of the suspended body from a safe distance through a telescope.
The next piece of apparatus for measuring psychical force
120 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
which I shall notice was also devised by a French investigator and
in an article in Les Annales Des Sciences Psychiques ( 1904. p
243 ), Dr. Joire contributed a series of observations on an instru-
ment which he had invented and called the sthenometer. His re-
marks were also published elsewhere and the substance of them is
contained in his book Les Phenomtnes Psychiques Et Supernomu-
aux ( Paris, 1909, pp. 371 ff.) The apparatus consisted of a very-
light needle balanced on a point and placed within a glass hemis-
phere, the whole being mounted on a wooden base. This instru-
ment, according to Dr. Joire, demonstrates the presence of the
force emanating from the human nervous system. If the hand
approaches the apparatus the needle moves in proportion to the
force projected. Various modifications in force are found in
persons afflicted with nervous maladies and this point is a fact
which Dr. Joire thinks of especial interest to medical men. The
usual procedure during the experiment is somewhat as follows.
The hand of the subject or investigator as the case may be is
brought close to the apparatus with the fingers extended, opposite
to the point of the needle and perpendicularly to its direction.
After a few moments a movement of the needle is noticed gen-
erally towards the hands, this movement being slow, progressive,
and very characteristic, in no way resembling the trembling of
the needle produced by shaking the apparatus. Generally speak-
ing the needle is displaced about 20, 30 or 40 degrees, and the dis-
placement produced by the right hand is normally greater than
that produced by the left. In some persons a repulsion of the
needle has been noticed although Dr. Joire found that usually an
attractive force was registered. From these experiments Dr,
Joire concluded that a special force or energy emanated from
the human organism and was dependent in some way or
other upon the nervous system. This force is, he thinks,
modified and disturbed in various nervous diseases and thus
the instrument may be of considerable value as an aid to
diagnosis. In a later paper by Dr. Joire entitled The Storage
of the Exteriorised Nervous Force in Various Bodies (Annals
of Psychical Science , July 1906, pp. 30-37) he again attempted to
show that heat was not the exciting agent as had been suspected
and he made a series of experiments in which he endeavored to
demonstrate that the force could be stored in various inanimate
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis."
121
bodies after having been held for a time in the hand of the sub*
ject. Tinfoil, iron, and cotton wadding gave negative results
whereas success was achieved with wood, water in bottles, linen
and cardboard. The object of experimentation is first held in the
hand some fifteen minutes and then placed on the stand of the
sthenometer. The needle, it is said, at once begins to move, which
never happens if the object is placed on the stand before it is held
in the hand. The deflections of the needle vary in different indi-
viduals and according to the experiments varied in accordance
with whichever hand held the object selected. In order to show
that the movements of the needle were not due to heat produced
by being held in the hand, Dr. Joire moved about a bottle full of
water in a basin of cold water after the bottle had been held in
the hand. Before immersion, the bottle, after being held in the
hand, gave a deviation of plus ten degrees (3) and after im-
mersion plus two degrees. If the bottle was cooled in a “ current
of air” (he does not state what temperature) the deviation was
plus eight degrees instead of plus ten, a circumstance which leads
Dr. Joire to suppose that water absorbs or eliminates the force
more rapidly than air.
The experiments of Dr. Joire were examined and criticised by
Messrs. F. J. M. Stratton and P. Phillips in the Journal of the
English Society for Psychical Research for December, 1906.
With screens placed between the apparatus and the experimenter’s
hands the resulting deflection of the needle indicated the action of
heat radiated from the hands and to make the test more definite
a series of further experiments were tried, A six-inch Leslie’s
cube was filled with water heated up to 40 degrees C. The verti-
cal sides of the cube were (1) polished, (2) painted white, (3)
painted deep cream, and (4) painted black. When the cube is
substituted for the hand the results gave:
(1) Polished side, 3 degrees
(2) White side, 6l 2 3 4/2 degrees
(3) Deep cream side, 13 / degrees
(4) Black side, 47 degrees
3. By the sign " plus ” I mean the movement of the needle was in
the direction indicating attraction towards the object, and by the sign
“ minus ” the reverse.
122 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
When the cube was filled with iced water and the deep cream side
was presented a repulsion was registered up to six degrees,
repulsion in human subjects being rare and only found in these
experiments in one case and then only through half a degree.
Finally in order to test their conclusions further a comparison was
made between deflection in the sthenometer and in a galvanometer
connected to a thermopile, the result being so close a correlation
between the sets of figures as to confirm the theory of heat being
the cause of the motion. As to Dr. Joire’s later experiments a
few trials were made but nothing occurred which could not be
well explained by the radiation of heat stored up in a body which
had been held in the hand.
It will be seen that both when Sir William Crookes and the
critics of Dr. Joire experimented with apparatus in which the
inventors claimed that the movement of the balanced and sus-
pended bodies were due to psychical nervous force the results in-
dicated nothing but the influence of heat. Further experiments
on the effects given on the sthenometer by frogs and lobsters
were tried by Jounet who came to the conclusion that the effects
could not be ascribed to heat but to some vital or nervous force.
( C . R. Cong. Inter, de Psychol, exp., 154-155). De Fretnery
also in Holland tried some experiments at the Psycho- Physiologi-
cal Laboratory at Amsterdam. Small clouds were formed under
the glass for the purpose of indicating air currents but the con-
clusions drawn are not clear from the summary published. (Ib
157).
The third apparatus to be described briefly is of a different
kind and the experiments were similar to those attempted by
Dr. Strong and Dr. Hyslop ( Journal , Amer. S. P. R., Nov.,
1920). Comte G. de Tromelin published, in 1909, a small
booklet in Paris entitled Le Fluide Humain, and later, in
1911, a further supplement entitled Nouvelles Recherches sur
le Fluide Humain. This experimenter constructed a great
number of pieces of apparatus similar to those used by Drs.
Strong and Hyslop and comprising cylinders in white, black and
silver paper, double cylinders, various shaped vanes and paper
figures. In each case the paper shape was constructed so that
when balanced by a pin thrust through a straw inserted in the
paper as perfect an equilibrium as possible was obtained. As in
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis
123
Joire’s sthenometer, rotation of the cylinders was obtained when
the hands of the subject were placed at either side, although
when some solid body was imposed between the cylinder and the
observer these rotations ceased. Notwithstanding this circum-
stance de Tromelin maintained that the rotations were induced by
the human fluid which corresponds to what Dr. Joire calls nervous
force. According to de Tromelin the human fluid is generally
generated within the body, the hands only acting as the conductor
for that fluid. The psychic field, according to this observer, is
in the thorax, and the exit of the fluid is governed by laws con-
cerning which little is at present known. De Tromelin claimed to
have eliminated all possible agencies except the human fluid in
the rotation of his motors and his experiments are mainly inter-
esting on that account. Unfortunately the details necessary to
a proper understanding of his methods are not as full as we should
like them to be and it is quite impossible to say how far his en-
deavors to eliminate the influence of heat, air currents, and other
normal agencies were successful.
Owing to the previous experiments Dr. Hyslop had made it
was thought advisable to pursue the investigation somewhat
further with different subjects in the hope of determining, if pos-
sible, how far the influence of heat or air currents was responsi-
ble for the movements of the rotating cylinders. It will be remem-
bered that in the experiments described by Dr. Hyslop various
tests were devised for the purpose of discovering the effect of air
currents and also that apparently the rotation was affected by the
sort of material upon which the pin was balanced.
Some twenty-five new experiments have been made under new
conditions and with various subjects, but the results obtained did
not warrant the further investigation, which would have been
long and protracted before any definite result could have been
achieved, which even then would have been uncertain as there
was always the possibility of the right subject not having been
obtained.
As specimens of the experiments the following will serve as
well as any to give the reader some idea of the conditions ob-
taining and of the control that was exercised. The apparatus
for the first experiment consisted in :
1. A paper cylinder made of fairly stiff white paper (Fabric
124 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Finish) 6.4 centimeters high, and 4.5 centimeters in diameter,
A piece of ordinary drinking straw 5.1 centimeters long is put
through the cylinder 5. centimeters from the top, a pin being
thrust from above through the straw at its medial point so that
when the pin point rests on some smooth surface, as perfect bal-
ance as possible is obtained.
2. A plated stand over the pillar of which is slipped a glass
tube, the bottom of which forms a support for the cylinder. Any
such rest does equally well and in the experiments under view the
glass tube was often used alone.
In the first experiment here recorded I was the subject, Mrs.
Dingwall acting as note-taker. The following are the notes taken
at the time and indicate roughly the general conditions which
were observed at each experiment.
A. S. P. R. Laboratory,
July 15th, 1921 — 4:35 p. m.
Weather: Raining and thundering.
Temperature of room 80 degrees.
Subject: Mr. E. J. D.
[The stand is placed on the typing desk made of hard wood
stained walnut. The desk stands to the right of a window which
is shut, the light being furnished from one electric bulb hanging
from the central chandelier.] Mrs. D. sits on E. J. D.’s right
taking notes. Each experiment is timed to last about five min-
utes. The cylinder is placed upon the glass tube and D. places
his two hands on either side. The motions of the cylinder are
indicated below by the abbreviations C. = Clockwise, and
AC. = Anti-clockwise. The extent of the movement is of
course only approximate.
4:47 p. m. Begin. AC 1/8; C 1 1/5 [moderately slow]; Stop;
AC 1/4 [very slow] : Stop; C 1/8; [slow] Stop; AC 1/8 [very
slow] ; Stop;
4 :51 End. In this experiment it will be seen that the movements of
the cylinder were slow and irregular, and no continued rotation
is registered.
[A piece of flat glass 11 3/4 inches broad and 16 3/5 inches high
is placed standing vertically on its end, just inside the front
drawer of the desk. This cuts off most of the air currents from
the subject's nose and mouth permitting only a cross and back
current from whatever source. The stand is placed about 9
inches behind the glass, the subject’s hands being put around
the edges of the glass on the two sides.]
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis."
125
5:01 Begin. Slight oscillation; Stop; AC 1/4 [slow]. Stop; AC 1/2
[slow]; Stop; Slight oscillation; C 1/16 [slow]; Stop; Very
slight oscillation; Stop; Slight oscillation; Stop; C 1/8 [slow] ;
Stop.
5 06 End. In this experiment it will be seen that the introduction
of the glass sheet appeared to interfere with the rotation of the
cylinder, presumably because it cut off air currents caused by
the subject. A cent is placed on the top of the glass tube.
Other conditions as before.
5 : 10 Begin.
5:15 End. No movement whatever of the cylinder was registered,
this being possibly partly due to the fact that the pin point was
resting in a groove on the cent instead of on the smooth surface
of the glass. A nickel is substituted for the cent.
5:23 Begin. AC 1/2 [slow]; Stop;
5 :25 End. In this experiment only a slight oscillation and a slow
AC movement were registered. The result may be due to the
same cause as that operating in the case of the cent. Unfortu-
nately at the time the experiment was made, no absolutely
smooth piece of nickel or copper was at hand.
A dime is substituted for the nickel. The stand is shifted back
so that the hands of the subject are now on the side of the desk
instead of facing him as hitherto.
5:31 Begin.
5 :36 End. No movement at all was registered.
[A tin cap with a smooth surface was substituted for the dime.]
5 :37 Begin.
5 :42 End. No movement.
[A piece of tinfoil is substituted for the tin cap.]
5:45 End. No movement.
[A piece of celluloid is substituted for the tin foil.]
5:50 Begin. AC [Very slight; slow] ; Stop.
6 :00 Experiment ends.
Another experiment is more interesting inasmuch as the
cylinders rotated on one occasion sixty-eight times, probably
through the influence of a steady draught through the window
chinks, possibly directed by the position of the hands. In this
instance Mrs. D. was the subject whilst I took notes. The record
reads :
A. S. P. R. Laboratory,
July 18th, 1921—5:30 p. m.
Weather: Warm and sunny, with little wind.
126 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Temperature of room 79 degrees.
Light from chandelier as before.
Subject: Mrs. D.
in this experiment the stand was discarded. The glass tube
alone standing 9 inches in front of the vertical sheet of plate
glass.
5 :31 Slight oscillation ; Pause ; C 1/2 ; AC 1 /2 ; AC 14 1 /2 [gradually
slowing. Speed about 8 rotations per minute.]
5:36 End.
[Cent substituted for glass surface.]
5:37 Begin.
5 :4l End. As in the former experiment no movement was regis-
tered.
[Nickel substituted for cent.]
5:42 Begin. Slight oscillation; AC 1/16.
5:47 End. [Dime substituted for nickel.]
5:52 Begin. AC 1/4.
5 :56 End. Owing to the lack of results a return was made to the
plain glass surface instead of substituting tin for the silver as
in the former experiment.
5 :58 Begin. Slight oscillation ; C 68.
6:03 Cylinder still rotating. [The hands are placed palm down-
wards flat on the desk on either side.]
Cylinder still rotates slowly, but when the hands are withdrawn
1/2 a minute later, the rotation ceases.
The next two experiments are curious in view of the fact of
the extremely sensitive character of a new contrivance which was
devised according to de Tromelin’s description. It consisted of a
sixteen sided paper shape with vanes 6.9 by 4.1 centimeters, and
supported by two cross straws with a pin thrust through the
centres of both. This was placed upon the glass tube in the
position usually occupied by the single cylinder. The con-
temporary record reads :
A. S. P. R. Laboratory,
July 19th, 1921.
Weather: Hot, with slight breeze.
Temperature of room 81 degrees.
Subject: Mrs. Dingwall.
3:50 p. m. Begin. Subject’s hands remain in her lap. C 1/8 [very
slow] ; AC [almost imperceptible.] Stop.
3:53 C 1/2 [almost imperceptible. Gradually increasing but soon
stopping.]
More Experiments in “ T elekinesis
127
3 :56 Hands are placed at the sides. AC 1 3/4. Stop ; C 1/8 ; pause
10 seconds; slight oscillation; C 1/8; Pause; AC 1/8; C 3/4;
pause.
4:01 End.
In the next experiment the effect of heat was tried upon the
sixteen sided paper shape. The record explains itself.
July 19th, 1921.
Place and conditions as before.
[The stand with the glass tube was placed on a wooden pedestal
so that the 16 sided paper shape was raised from the desk. On
either side of the figure two electric lamps were fixed which
when lighted gave out some considerable heat. Each lamp was
distant from the vase about 8 centimeters, the middle of the
lamps being on a level with the bottom of the vase. The ob-
servers were sitting some five or six feet away from the desk,
the lighting of the lamps being controlled from the central
chandelier.
4 :21 p. m. Lamps lighted. C 1/4 ; AC 1/4 ; C 1/4 ; AC 1/4 ; C 1/16 ;
AC 1/2; C 1/8; 3 seconds pause; AC 1/4.
4:26 Stop [The intervals between the movements were such that
the movements themselves were spread fairly evenly over the
five minutes allowed for the experiment. It was assumed that
the air currents caused by the heated air around the lamps were
sufficient to explain the irregular movements of the paper shape.
In view of the great heat generated by the lamps it was sur-
prising that more movement was not registered, since this 16
sided figure is peculiarly sensitive and delicately poised.]
In the next experiment the subject was a medium for mental
phenomena, but who, it was reported, had obtained also physical
manifestations. It is noteworthy that the results were poor, and
that the “ cold breezes ” did not disturb the apparatus. The
double black cylinders mentioned were a couple of black paper
cylinders larger than the single white paper cylinder and mounted
together on a horizontal straw. The record reads :
A. S. P. R. Laboratory.
August 29th, 1921 — 7 :30 p. m.
Weather: Hot
Temperature in room 74 degrees.
No wind.
Subject : Miss B.
Door shut, window closed and curtain drawn. Subject seated
as before with the glass sheet in front of her. E. J. D. seated at
128 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
side and slightly behind subject. Mrs. D. seated at the other
end of the room near the door. Single white paper cylinder on
glass tube used.
7:35 p. m. Begin. [Subject puts her hands on either side of the
cylinder.] Slight oscillations ; C 1/2 [slow] ; [stop.]
7 :36 Still no movement.
7:37 C 5 1/4 [slow] ; [stop.]
7:40 No further movement; Experiment ends.
[Subject says that during the experiment she felt a tingling in
the fingers and heat in the palms, while she got the impression
of the color orange.]
[The sixteen-sided paper shape is now substituted in the place
of the single cylinder.]
7:42 Begin. Oscillation. [Medium complains of an icy sensation.]
Then C. [very slowly] ; [stop]. [The apparatus is accidentally
touched by the subject.] When steadied it remains motionless.
[Then a slight movement AC, followed by a stop and then C,
1/2, followed by slight movement AC, and slight oscillation.
7 :47 End. [Subject feels little cold breezes over her hands but they
do not affect the apparatus, which continues to move after the
subject has withdrawn her hands indicating probably the pres-
ence of air currents.]
[The double black cylinders substituted for the sixteen-sided
shape.]
7:50 Begin. Slight oscillation, then C 1 [very slow]; AC 1/4;
[Stop] followed by C 1 increasing in speed and finally stopping.
7:52 No further movement. Experiment ends.
The next record is again of some interest for the same reason
as the last as explained below. The double silver paper cylinders
are similar to the double black paper cylinders mentioned above ;
the horizontal white paper cylinders are similar in size also but
instead of hanging vertically these are mounted horizontally at
either end of the straw. The large black paper cylinder was one
larger in diameter than the original white paper cylinder but of
about the same height. The notes read :
A. S. P. R. Laboratory,
Friday, Sept. 2nd, 1921.
Weather : Very hot, no wind.
Temperature of room, 80 degrees.
Subject: Miss D.
[The subject of this experiment was a lady who has been cred-
ited with mediumistic powers. Some years ago she is said to
have exhibited telekinesis to a private circle, a chair walking
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis."
129
towards her when she beckoned to it. At the time when this
experiment was undertaken Miss D. was sitting with Miss B.
in a series of experiments for physical phenomena under the
auspices of the Society.
The single glass screen was used, as before, the window and
door were shut, E. J. D. sat to the right and a little behind the
medium while Mrs. D. occupied a chair near the door. Single
white paper cylinder used and three inches behind it a single
straw balanced on a needle point imbedded in a cork.]
7:0 5 Begin. C 1 [slow]: AC 2 [slow]: C 9 [Stop.] (No move-
ment of the straw when cylinder is rotating, only a slight os-
cillation being noticeable at the beginning.)
7 :10 End. Miss D. says that she has the sensation of pins and
needles in the finger-tips.
[The sixteen-sided paper shape is substituted for the cylinder.
Before the hands are near the shape it begins to rotate
slowly AC.
7:14 Begin. AC 1: Subject accidentally touches apparatus: C 1:
AC 7 3/4 [slow]. Then stops until
7:19 End.
[Double cylinder of silver paper lined white substituted for
sixteen-sided shape.]
7:21 Begin AC 1/8: C 1/8 : AC 1 : Stop.
7:24 AC 5: Stop.
7:26 End.
[Horizontal double white cylinders substituted for silver
cylinders.]
7:27 Begin. AC [Slightly and very slowly, then C very slowly].
AC 1/8: then back to original position and then on to C 1/2 :
AC 1/4. .
7 :32 End. [Although this horizontal pair of cylinders was very
delicately balanced the medium was unable to get even one
single complete rotation.]
[Single large black paper cylinder substituted for horizontal
cylinder.]
7 :33 Begin. AC 5 ; Stop.
7:34 AC 4; stop; then AC 12 [slowly].
7:38 End. [After the hands are withdrawn the cylinder rotates
AC 2.)
Owing to the poorness of the results and the probability of air
currents causing the rotations I decided to try to eliminate these
entirely or as far as was practical or possible and therefore I
procured a
cardboard box, the measurements of which including the lid were
130 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
17 inches long and broad and 11.7 inches in height. At one side, .7
of an inch from the bottom and 3.9 inches from the lateral edges, the
distance between the two at the narrowest point being S.2 inches, a
couple of holes were cut to fit the human wrist measuring approxi-
mately 2.9 inches high by 1.9 inches broad. On the top of the box
in the middle of the lid was cut out a hole 9.5 inches by 6.3 inches,
around which was placed thick felt to act as a support for a piece
of plate glass 15.5 inches by 11.8 inches by .3 inches. The apparatus
having been placed in the box at a convenient distance from the hole
the subject is intended to place the hands through the holes and the
space round the wrists is then padded with cotton wadding. We
thus have a chamber protected from external air currents and pro-
vided with a window through which the movements, if any, of the
suspended objects may be observed. As an experiment the apertures
for the hands were stopped with wadding and the sixteen-sided shape
was placed in the middle of the box balanced on the glass tube
mounted on the stand. The window being 4 ft. 2 in. from the box.
a 12 in. electric fan was set in motion at its fastest speed. The fan
was 20 inches from the side of the box facing the back left-hand
comer diagonally. The experiment began at 4 :21 p. m. and ended
at 4:24 p. m. Not an oscillation of the apparatus was observed.
The single white paper cylinder was then substituted for the larger
shape. The experiment began at 4:26 and ended at 4:29: not an
oscillation was observed. The sitter (Mrs. Dingwall) now sat oppo-
site, placed her hands in the holes which were packed with wool and
allowed the palms to rest on the bottom of the box as far as she was
able. The fan was then placed on a stand immediately behind her
and tipped so that the air was blown down directly across the box.
The experiment began at 4 :25 and ended at 4 :27 : Not an oscillation
was observed.]
i
A. S. P. R. Laboratory.
Weather: Hot with little wind.
Subject: Mrs. D.
Single white paper cylinder placed in the box. Subject places -
her hands in the holes which are packed with wool. E. J. D.
stands at the right looking through the glass window and taking
notes.
4 :45 p. m. Begin. Slight oscillation owing to the movement of the
hands being inserted through the hole.
4 :50 End. Not an oscillation.
Sixteen-sided shape.
4:55 p.m. Begin.
5 :00 p. m. End. Not an oscillation.
Sixteen-sided shape. Subject: E. J. D. Notes by Mrs. D.
5 :05 p. m. Begin.
5 :08 End. Not an oscillation.
More Experiments in “ Telekinesis.”
131
Single white paper cylinder.
5:11 Begin.
5 :16 End. Not an oscillation.
Single black cylinder.
5 -21 Begin.
5 .26 End. Not an oscillation.
The experiments with the box are decidedly interesting in
view of the fact that no motion whatsoever was observed when
air currents were properly excluded. Heat, if such was radiated
from the fingers, apparently had no effect, although in one
instance the subject was the same who had caused the single
cylinder to rotate sixty-eight times. It would seem therefore
that the probability lies in the direction of supposing that in the
great majority of persons with no marked mediumistic tendency,
the rotations are caused largely by air currents in the room.
The effect of other normal causes also has to be eliminated before
any attention is paid to theories of * psychic force,’ and as far as
we know no satisfactory evidence has ever been adduced for sup-
posing that human radiations from normal persons can move
objects without contact. On the other hand it may be possible
that Mile. Pauline B. with whom de Tromelin worked was a
mediumistic subject with powers akin, although not identical
with Mile. Tomczyk, whose telekinetic phenomena have never
been seriously called in question as far as I know. Experiments
in this field are simple and require no complicated apparatus.
Anybody can try them for himself, but it is as well to use some
such contrivance as the box in order to prevent the influence of
air currents as far as possible.
>0*1
132 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENTS.
AN EVIDENTIAL CASE OF SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
By Allerton S. Cushman, A. M., Ph. D.
In presenting this record of personal experience it is my pur-
pose to be as exact and minute in the description of occurrences,
events and results as I am accustomed to be in recording obser-
vations of physical or chemical phenomena that take place in my
laboratories. To begin with it is fair to state that for forty years,
or ever since my boyhood days I have from time to time en-
countered psychic phenomena, much of it within our own family
circle. Deeply imbued in my younger days with the reasoning and
writings of Darwin, Huxley and Tyndall I thought myself a fine
example of an agnostic and quite superior to the general run of
people, who had not enjoyed as I had a scientific education. With
regard to the subject of psychic phenomena, however, I believe
that I considered myself far more advanced than Huxley and
Tyndall, an opinion which however conceited it may sound, the
experience of many years has fully confirmed. A personal ac-
quaintance with Richard Hodgson and a close study of Frederick
Myers’s monumental work on “ Human Personality and Its Sur-
vival of Bodily Death ” finally convinced me that persistence of
life after death, not only could be, but, indeed already had been
pretty definitely proved. In fact it appeared to me to have been
clearly shown by cumulative evidence, which is always the best
evidence whether in law or in science, that any person without re-
spect of education or intellectual attainment could obtain personal
proof of survival, if he or she pursued the inquiry with sustained
interest and persistence. Indeed, to be consistent I was forced
into a literal acceptance of the scriptural injunction: “ Seek and
ye shall find ; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”
I make this introductory confession, if such it be, with full
knowledge that I am furnishing those who may assume the role of
critic with the very weapons with which I may be scientifically
slain, drawn and quartered. To be sure many very eminent
Fig. i.
The Photograph hy Mrs. Deane.
(Faces of sitters obliterated.)
Digitized by Google
Good*
Incidents.
133
scientists indeed, who stand very far above me in accomplishment
and attainment, have dared not only to present evidence of sur-
vival but also have bared to public criticism and even to sneering
innuendo, their most sacred records covering the passing from
earth life of their best beloved. Reluctantly I have come to be-
lieve that what other men have dared in the cause of truth, I
must dare too and at whatever cost.
Frederick Soddy, the distinguished professor of Inorganic
and Physical Chemistry in the University of Oxford who has
been one of the principal workers to elucidate the most recent
knowledge of the constitution of matter, says :* “ At the close of
the nineteenth century an extraordinary series of discoveries in
physics and chemistry put into our hands a scrap of material
called radium, which asked us the same question as the stars but
at point blank range.” But now he says further: “In modem
science, matter and energy are the unchangeable realities that
can neither be created nor destroyed. If they appear they must
come from somewhere and if they disappear they must go some-
where. Whatever extraordinary events may occur, behind the
changing appearances there is a definite basis of unalterable
reality in the physical world. The doctrine of the immortality of
the spirit or conservation of personality may be regarded as the
inverse form of the scientific argument above. The real part of a
man is not bodily organism, which is continually being wasted
away and as continually renewed, nor the physical energy at its
command, which is derived entirely from the inanimate world,
but lies in the personality resident in the body and in control of it.
There is no other difference between a man alive one moment and
dead the next.”
I have purposely quoted the above, albeit without the permis-
sion of the eminent author, because it seems to me that the state-
ments exhibit the trend of thought that is going on the minds of
contemporary scientists who are by years of patient investigation
into the mysteries of matter and energy, best qualified to form an
opinion that really matters. Following this lead then, I shall
have occasion to defend the thesis that science is concerned with a
threefold law of conservation, that of Energy, Matter and Per-
•Science and Life, E. P. Dutton & Company 1920. Pp. 34, 152, 153.
134 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
sonality. So far unhappily, science for the most part has con-
fined itself to the study of the first two members of this trinity
and has deliberately ignored or denied the third which really con-
cerns us most nearly and is therefore the most important.
With these introductory remarks I can proceed with the record
which it is the principal object of this paper to set forth.
My young daughter aged fifteen left home on the 20th of
September, 1920, to go to boarding school. She was in bloom of
health and vigor. On September 24th she suddenly passed into
the higher life due to a lightning like attack of cerebral meningitis,
the pathology of which dread disease is almost as unknown to
modem medical science as it was to Indian medicine men two
hundred years ago.
It was unthinkable to me that this young, vigorous, enthusi-
astic, loving personality had disappeared into an abyss of noth-
ingness and that I should not ever again be able to reach it and
converse with it. It must suffice here to say that inside of six
weeks, without the aid of any medium outside the family circle,
we were getting characteristic cheery letters from our child
These letters which came through by a process which has been
misnamed automatic writing contained evidence of identity that
I consider far stronger than much of the evidence on which people
everywhere found their beliefs and convictions, and even stronger
than most evidence on which identity is proved in courts of law
and equity. As she herself said, her letters were much more
“ newsy ” than any she could have written from school because
there was so much more to tell about. However, we are not here
directly concerned with this phase of evidence for the conserva-
tion of personality, except in so far as it tears directly on what
follows.
During the spring of 1921 a friend showed me a photograph
taken by Mr. Hope of Crewe on which appeared as a “ nsvchic
extra ” a young soldier’s face. This young man I knew to have
been killed early in the war and though I had never seen him.
his people who were of the highest standing, were well known to
me and the recognition of the likeness was fully vouched for.
The prominence and character of the people associated with this
picture challenged attention in spite of what seemed to me the
incredibility of the occurrence. An intimate technical knowledge
Incidents.
135
of the photographic art, its physics and chemistry and above all
the ease with which it lends itself to “faking,” does not predis-
pose the scientific mind to credit the claims made for psychic pho-
tography. I reflected, however, that it was not easy for science to
believe in the X rays or in radium when they were first announced
and that, moreover, it is not a question that matters whether or
not a phenomenon is easy to believe in, but whether it can be made
to recur under any given set of conditions. I began a study of the
subject and to begin with, I obtained all the available literature
that I could find, including all Dr. Hyslop's reports that had ap-
peared from time to time in the Journal of the A. S. P. R.
Among the books Dr. James Coates’ “ Photographing the Invisi-
ble ” and “ Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism” by Professor
G. Henslow, an eminent botanist, were interesting if somewhat
staggering to a beginner. From all I could make out at this stage
of my inquiry I was distinctly inclined to the conviction that in
spite of some undoubted fraud that had been unmasked from time
to time, the claims for the existence of the phenomena were far
more strongly supported than the denials. The discovery of
fraud in any given case is not even good presumptive evidence
against its bona fide appearance in another case, any more than
the discovery of a counterfeit is evidence that the real thing does
not exist.* Unfortunately many “ would be ” scientists have
rested the case on one detected fraud and have hurled denuncia-
tion and anathema ever after, just as vociferously as was ever
done in the cases of Copernicus or Galileo, or even later, in the
case of Galvani and his wiggling frogs’ legs.
One thing that I learned from the literature impressed me and
that was that definite claims for the truth of spirit photography
had persisted for more than sixty years since its alleged accidental
discovery by a photographer named Mumler, in Boston, Mass.
The apparently well attested literature informed me that when
the proper psychic conditions maintain, photographic plates and
films can be pyschically affected either in camera as in ordinary
photography, or on occasions the plates may have images im-
pressed upon them without the instrumentality of the camera, as
•Asa matter of fact the existence of counterfeits is a priori proof of
the existence of the real thing somewhere.
136 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
for instance when they are wrapped in black paper or even when
they have never been removed from the original package put up
by the manufacturer. This at once suggests something that could
very easily be subjected to experimental laboratory investigation,
provided, that the proper kind of co-operation between the
physicist and the psychic could be brought about. Unfortunately
such psychics are f.ew in number and those that do exist appear
to have good reason to shun the physicists who, usually start out
with the preconceived idea, that the object of such a research is
simply to find and unmask fraud. The written records show that
there have been a number of competent investigators, among
whom Dr. James Coates is prominent, who though they have not
been able to bring to bear on the subject all the physical equip-
ment of the modem laboratory, have nevertheless used scientific
methods of experimental testing. These investigators certainly
have not been unmindful of the fact that photography is an art
that easily lends itself to faking, but nevertheless they find that so
delicate is the fabric of psychic power, that even an atmosphere
of suspicion will suffice in most cases to lead to negative results.
As a matter of fact, if a clever counterfeiter were to produce
under our eyes a silver dollar made out of tin, this would not
mean that an honest dollar could under no circumstances be pro-
duced. There is no bond on earth worth its paper unless there
is integrity back of it, and if it were common practice to suspect
all bonds of being fraudulent, men would very soon cease to issue
them. But if bonds continue to be valid over a long period of
years it would seem as though in spite of some dishonest ones a
prima facie case had been made out for their value, at least, in the
great majority of cases. By such thoughts as these I was im-
pelled to seek and try such exponents of the art of psychic photog-
raphy as might be available. In my own city of Washington,
D. C., there was said to be one such medium but he was aged,
had discontinued practice and it was evident that there was noth-
ing to be got in that direction. There was nothing for it but to
cross the ocean and seek out the much discussed Mr. Hope of
Crewe. I made up my mind that no word of my mission should
precede me to England so that if I met with success it could not
be said that I had been expected and looked up. I did not an-
nounce my sailing or purpose, nor did I take any letters of intro-
Googl
Incidents.
137
duction to people prominent in psychic research as I might very
easily have done.
Accompanied by my wife and son I arrived in London on Sat-
urday evening, July 23rd, 1921. On the following Monday after-
noon I called on Mr. Engholm at the office of “ Light ” and find-
ing him in I introduced myself and asked him point blank how I
could get into touch with Mr. Hope of Crewe? Mr. Engholm
told me that in one respect I might consider myself fortunate inas-
much as Mr. Hope was then in London and giving sittings at the
College of Psychic Science ; he added however that Hope was al-
ways pretty well booked up and that it was not easy to get an ap-
pointment. I immediately sent for a taxicab and my wife and I
drove forthwith to the College at 59 Holland Park. It was a little
after four o'clock when we arrived and I remarked that it was
rather late in the day for photography, although the weather was
sunny and bright. We were greeted by a lady in charge, not on
this occasion however, Mrs. Hewat McKenzie the secretary. This
lady told us that Mr. Hope had finished his sittings for the day,
had gone out and would not return until the morning and that we
would have to see Mrs. McKenzie, who was also out, about book-
ings. We were deeply disappointed not alone because we had
come so far but because, and this is worthy of note, our daughter
had written through her mother’s hand that a special effort
would be made to get a picture through for us. She had been
referring to this occasion for weeks past with characteristic ex-
citement and enthusiasm. However we prepared to swallow our
disappointment and arose to take our leave, simply stating that
we would telephone in the morning and make an effort to get an
appointment. We were on our way to the door when the lady in
charge remarked that there was at that moment upstairs in the
studio a little old woman named Mrs. Deane from whom some
people had received wonderful results and, that, though the hour
was late, rather than have us disappointed she might consent to a
sitting. Word was sent upstairs and a message came back to say
that Mrs. Deane had four plates left and if that was satisfactory
she would give a sitting. We immediately repaired to the studio
at the top of the house, here we met Mrs. Deane, a little old
woman, who I have since been informed was a charwoman, be-
fore her psychic gift was discovered, and therefore may fairly be
138 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
classed as belonging to what is described in England as the lower
class. There was no pretension to any education or any intel-
lectual attainment whatsoever and the accent was what is known
as cockney. All this is set down in the spirit of scientific ac-
curacy and with the full knowledge that Mrs. Deane possesses a
most admirable character and a gift that many wiser people might
well be willing to exchange for intellectual attainment. Mr. Hope
prefers to have his sitters bring their own dry plates and accepts
the most stringent test conditions, asking only for a spirit of fair-
ness and if possible faith. Mrs. Deane on the other hand, uses
plates which she has kept by her for some days and thinks, for
all I know, correctly that they thus become sensitised or as she
claims “ magnetized ” for the work in hand. Many people think
that when they bring their own plates to a sitting they have in-
troduced test conditions, but this is not necessarily true, as wit-
ness the performance recently brought off, at the College of
Psychic Science, in which a conjuror produced “ psychic extras ”
on plates that a distinguished committee of gentlemen thought
were their own, but, which had really been substituted by clever
sleight of hand. We know so little about the conditions which
govern this sort of phenomena that it is quite possible that we may
defeat our own purposes by imposing our own conditions, just
as though we were to insist that all plates should be developed in
full daylight. In any case on this occasion I was hoping for a
likeness of our daughter and as she was quite unknown in Eng-
land as indeed we were ourselves, I possessed all the test condi-
tions that I wanted for the occasion. Mrs. Deane betrayed no
special interest in us when we entered the studio, our names were
not mentioned nor were they asked for. The studio was a con-
ventional one with a north sky-light, a rattan settee for the sitters
and a black painted canvas background; there was an ordinary
dark room connecting with the studio at the back. Mrs. Deane
asked me if I understood photography and if I wished to insert
the plates in the holders. She and I then shut ourselves in the
dark room where I was handed a box containing four remaining
Stanley dry plates, 4" x 5' ; These I examined carefully and
marked. The plates had no unusual appearance, although that
fact in itself means nothing for if fraud was intended a pre-
liminary exposure would not have affected the appearance. Hav-
Incidents.
139
ing inserted the four plates in two very ordinary looking hold-
ers we immediately reentered the studio. Mrs. Deane then pulled
forward her own camera which was a cheap little instrument
of the “ Brownie ” type mounted on a light metal tripod. I
inspected the camera inside and out as well as the lens but noticed
nothing unusual or suspicious. Mrs. Deane then explained that
she found it helpful to preface her sittings with a brief religious
exercise and we sat for a few minutes about a small table hold-
ing the plates between our superimposed hands. There was a
simple but very reverent prayer for success and a well known
hymn was sung in a low voice, my wife joining Mrs. Deane in
this part of the program. Doubtless it would be during this
part of the proceeding that the soulless skeptic would be look-
ing for fraud, personally I am convinced that religious fervor
and faith are aids to this and indeed to all other types of psychic
phenomena. I make this statement with the full knowledge that
I shall lose something of such scientific prestige as I may pos-
sess for expressing such an opinion. Nevertheless many very
competent psychic researchers have drawn blank where other
competent observers have succeeded simply because they have
not been able to qualify in this way.
While we were holding the plates during this part of the sit-
ting they seemed to move automatically between our hands, but
as this is quite a common phenomenon it did not surprise me.
The hour was now after five and I began to fear, too late for
photography although I knew that the English evening light is
more actinic than our own. My wife and I now sat side by side
on the settee and Mrs. Deane quickly focussed the lens with the
usual black cloth, after which she exposed the four plates one
after the other, without any further delays except those incident
to removing the slide covers and changing the plate holders, all
quite in the usual way. The exposures were for thirty seconds
each, using a number eight aperture.
After the exposures Mrs. Deane and I at once entered the
dark room and I developed the plates myself. All four of the
plates showed something “ extra ” which did not belong to normal
photography, but the fourth one of the series showed plainly
though faintly, a face, just to the side of that of my wife.
No recognition is possible in the case of a wet negative but
140 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the extra was plainly discernible both in the developing bath and
after the fixing was complete. The negative was put into the
washer and I did not see it again until the next morning when
it was quite dry, but I can testify to the fact that I learned the
negative by heart before I left it. If it had been exchanged or
tampered with in any way I should have known it The negative
is now in my possession. It is interesting on account of the fact
that on being printed, the “ extra ” proved to be a very beautiful
portrait picture of our daughter, which was immediately recog-
nised by the child’s mother and brother as well as by myself.
There has never been a shadow of doubt in any of our minds as to
the identity. A reproduction of the original photograph is shown
in Fig. 1 and an enlargement is given in Fig. 2.
Having now recorded the events which led up to our obtaining
this picture, it is appropriate at this place to examine the evidence
in some detail.
If one wished to believe that Mrs. Deane was an unusually
clever fraud and sleight of hand artist, one might venture to guess
that she was at all times provided with a number of plates on
which previous faint exposures of pictures or persons had been
impressed. On the sudden appearance of unknown sitters it is
now necessary to assume that the medium telepathically senses
the nature of the bereavement and produces the plate that she
thinks would most nearly suit the occasion, whereupon the loving
hearts and high expectancy of the bereaved do the rest. On this
assumption since the great majority of Mrs, Deane’s sitters of
late years are mourning soldier sons it would hardly seem reasona-
ble to believe that her repertory happened to contain a picture of a
young girl, a perfect simulacrum of our daughter. Moreover on
any such assumption Mrs. Deane’s stock in trade would have to be
large indeed to account for the very great number of well at-
tested successes she has produced both before and since our sit-
ting with her. The entire assumption is absurd and in my opinion
disposes of itself. Another ridiculous assumption is sometimes
advanced, that the medium having telepathically picked one’s
brains, as a pickpocket one’s watch, proceeds to hand it all out
again in the guise of a picture thought form. Had Mrs. Deane
at any time during the proceeding asked us, which she did not, to
think of a spirit friend we certainly would not have thought of
Digitized
Google
Incidents.
141
our daughter in the appearance or with the expression that is
presented in the picture, which is quite dissimilar from any
normal portrait of the child. I should also add that we had no
sort of a picture or presentment of our daughter with us when
the sitting was going on.
It has always seemed to me that ever since the Society for
Psychical Research proved that telepathy under certain conditions
is perfectly possible, it has been overworked whenever it is de-
sired to maintain that spirit communication is impossible. Some
minds prefer to go around Robin Hood’s barn rather than go
direct to an issue.
The issue in this case seems to me to be very clearly drawn.
It depends entirely upon the validity of the recognition and it is
just in this respect that I may find it most difficult to convince the
skeptical mind. Few judicial minds would deny that a mother’s
recognition of any presentment of her child would have greater
weight than that of any other person, but the mother in this case
has in the intervening months gone to join the beloved daughter.
There is only at the present time the word of myself and my
family that the recognition was as complete and convincing to my
wife as it is to myself. In the Figs. 3, 4 and 5 I am reproduc-
ing the only earth photographs of the child taken during her
fifteenth year. Whether they will be convincing to strangers is
doubtful, especially on a superficial examination. I myself
consider the Deane picture the best and most characteristic of the
lot. In normal photography, apart from family kodaking, the
subject is always dressed up for the occasion, every hair is ad-
justed and the photographer’s injunction ; “ look pleasant please ”
usually has the effect of producing an artificial expression. Then
after the professional negative is made the artist retoucher goes
to work on it, all the natural expression lines are carefully re-
moved, the mouth is made into a perfect Cupid’s bow, the eye-
brows are modeled to the ideal of beauty, until finally we are given
perhaps a beautiful picture but an indifferent likeness. This is
the case with all the portraits I am able to present in evidence.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the lips slightly open in the rather simpering
expression induced by the photographer’s “ look pleasant.” Fig. 5
in profile shows the lips closed and firm which was the more
habitual expression when the face was in repose. The spirit face
142 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
wears a somewhat wistful expression composed of the elements
of both joy and sadness at the same time as though almost on the
verge of tears, an emotion that certainly would have been ap-
propriate to such a momentous occasion. I would call attention
to the place and way the hair parts on the brow in all the photo-
graphs, this can not be said to be common to all young girls and
is quite uncommon among the young English girls, as I ob-
served them in the summer of 1921.
I have had the photographs Figs. 2 and 3 reproduced as nearly
as possible to scale, I have made careful measurements of them
with micrometer calipers and I have traced a surprising identity
of measurement when reduced to proportions. In one respect
only a slight variation is found; the length of the nose in Fig. 2
is a shade longer than it should be when measured from the line
of the eyebrows to the tip, if we take the normal photograph as
correct. As every one knows however, there is distortion due to
foreshortening and lengthening in ordinary photographic work.
The oft quoted statement that the camera does not lie, is not and
never will be true. How often are we shown photographs of
friends that lead us to remark “ I should never have recognised
it ?” It is quite possible to believe that the three normal pictures
shown would present difficulties to a stranger, if with no other
information he were asked to decide whether or not they had been
taken of the self same person. If he had no reason to doubt it
he would probably decide that they had. but how would it be if
some great question of identity was at stake. There have been
a number of famous lawsuits involving the inheritance to titles
and property in which experts have differed over photographic
evidence. The family and friends must ever remain the best
judges of recognition and thus provide the best possible scientific
evidence.
In the case here recorded eight near relatives and friends have
formally attested their conviction that the Deane picture shown
is a likeness of my daughter. Most of these attestations are
printed in connection with this record.
Personally I am quite convinced that the Deane picture is a
presentment of my daughter. How such a phenomenon is brought
about science does not attempt to explain, for science as such
has not even as yet admitted that it can take place. This is per-
Incidents.
143
haps not surprising but it is to be hoped that psychical research
may be able to bring about a rapprochement between the psychical
and physical elements which must be studied at the same time if
any explanation of the wonderful facts is to be discovered. For
my own part I am quite prepared to believe that spiritual sub-
stance invisible to our eyes and intangible to our touch may either
give off or reflect rays far above the visible spectrum. Attention
should be called to the muslin like material which frames the face
in Figs. 1 and 2 and also to the fact that the material falls over
the front of the mother’s hat in Fig. 1. This at once suggests
that we have to do with the vaporous and invisible form of
ectoplasm of Schrenck-Notzing, Bisson, Geley and Crawford
In any case it rules out any attempted explanation that has to do
with fluorescent or phosphorescent backgrounds.
Shortly after my sitting with Mrs. Deane I had an interesting
sitting with Mr. Hope under test conditions. Six plates were ex-
posed that I had bought and marked and which Hope never
touched or handled until they came out of the developer. Some
of these showed curious “ extras ” but there was nothing recog-
nizable or of interest as far as this record is concerned. Four
weeks later I sought and obtained another sitting with Mrs. Deane
in which my wife again took part. Very interesting results were
obtained at this second sitting but no recognizable faces, all this
in spite of the fact, that by that time not only Mrs. Deane but
many other people in London knew all about us and the nature of
our bereavement. Some of the plates contained such curious
light effects upon them that I sent prints to Sir Oliver Lodge
with whom I had corresponded on scientific matters quite outside
the sphere of psychic phenomena. I also sent a print of Fig. 1
with a brief record which has led Sir Oliver to write me that our
case was quite the most convincing evidence of spirit photography
that had been brought to his attention. On August 24th my wife
and I had a sitting with Mrs. Osborne Leonard which is no part
of this record except for the following curious circumstance. Mrs.
Leonard knew our names but as far as I am aware nothing else
about us. Immediately after the sitting began the control de-
scribed our daughter accurately, said that she was overjoyed
about the success of some photograph and then added the sig-
nificant words : “ What has S’Oliver to do with this ?” All
144 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
students of psychical research will remember that it was through
Mrs. Leonard's control that most of the Raymond messages have
been obtained.
In the mother’s diary for July 26th, 1921, I find the following
entry : “ When the plates taken by Mrs. Deane were printed, one
of them showed very clearly an impression of Agnes. The like-
ness is wonderful, no one could possibly mistake it. She appears
older, but otherwise just the same. There is a sweet whimsical
expression on her face, as it turns towards her father, especially.”
I am making no effort in this record to present as evidential
the automatic messages referred to in an earlier paragraph, but
I believe none the less that it will be of some interest to quote a
few sentences from the script received during the early morning
hours of July 26th, before we had seen a print from the negative.
The record reads as follows : “ I am here Mother. I am so glad
you are writing this morning for I have had no other chance to
to reach you since you came to London, but I was with you all
day yesterday. I am sure it will come out just as I hoped. The
photography was awfully (sic) interesting and I think that I
managed to get on the plates. I certainly was there and I cer-
tainly helped. My guides were there too and perhaps they got on.
There was quite a crowd and a lot of strangers who had no refer-
ence to me. There are all sorts of people about all the time just
as if one went through crowded streets and passed people. But I
think it is going to be most interesting to father and you and
show more clearly than ever before, the truth of all I have been
trying to tell you all these past months. As I have said so many
times, the main point of interest for us now as a family, is to
prove that I am alive and developing in my new state of life that
God has called me to. There is no need of sorrow, for here I am
and here I shall remain to welcome you.”
The script of the next day reads: “ I was so delighted when
Father got the print, everything is turning out just as I wanted
and hoped.”
This completes all the record that refers to what I consider
to be a perfectly good evidential case of the conservation of per-
sonality through the immediate survival of bodily death. That
the majority of the critical world that reads the record will not
so accept it, I am perfectly well aware. This does not seem to me
Incidents.
145
to matter. As a contribution to a growing mass of cumulative
evidence it will take its place and have its effect.
I wish to say in conclusion that I do not need to be reminded
that among the great number of psychic photographs that have
been obtained through various mediums in different places, some
few are beautiful, some are unconvincing and many are both
grotesque and repellent. To draw an analogy I may point out
that a zoological garden will exhibit as examples of one and the
same environment, a warthog and a faun, a Tasmanian devil
and a peacock, a hyena and a bird of paradise. Nature works
this way. It is not the question whether the thing that appears is
acceptable or even probable, but is it true.
Washington, D. C.,
January 1922.
Supporting Statements.
[1] I wish to state that the Deane photograph which is the subject
of my father’s article (Colonel Allerton S. Cushman) was recognized
by me as being an undoubted and unmistakable likeness of my sister
Agnes. I was with my father when we received the prints for the
first time in London, and we both cried out simultaneously that it
was an absolutely perfect photograph of my sister. The more I
study this photograph the more startling the likeness becomes. I
cannot make the point too clear that not only did all Agnes’ near re-
lations agree concerning the marvelous picture, but people who had
seen her a few times thought that it was a picture taken during life.
I hope you will believe me when I say that the photograph is a
wonderful likeness of my sister ; more than a likeness, a reproduction.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Van Brunt Cushman.
[2] At the request of my brother Colonel Allerton S. Cushman I
am writing to you on the subject of the spirit photograph of his
daughter and my niece Agnes. Having known the child all her life
and watched her grow from a baby into a young girl I do not think
I could easily be deceived by even a close resemblance, and it is my
assured conviction that the original of this spirit photograph was
indeed Agnes herself.
Very truly yours,
[Dr.] Wayman C. Cushman.
[3] I desire to state that I am the maternal uncle of the child re-
ferred to in Dr. Cushman’s record. When told of the incident of the
4
146 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
photograph I will confess that I was extremely skeptical and quite
prepared to see a photograph which would demand a considerable
effort of the imagination in order to detect a likeness. But when I
was first shown a copy of the Deane photograph I recognized it at
once as a striking likeness of my niece whom I have seen grow from
babyhood to girlhood. In fact I should be willing to take my oath
that the photograph represents my niece and no other child. My
wife, who also knew the child intimately, is equally positive in re-
gard to the likeness.
I have read the manuscript of the record and believe it to be ac-
curate to the letter. You are at liberty to make use of this statement
in any way you may deem proper.
I am, Sir,
Yours very truly,
Joseph Clark Hoppin, Ph.D.
Sometime Professor of Classical Archaeology,
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Penna.
[4] I wish to testify to the likeness of the “ Deane ” photograph
which accompanies Colonel Allerton Cushman’s article on Psychic
Photography, to his daughter. She was my husband's niece, and for
some years I have been accustomed to see her and to know well every
line and expression of her face. The photograph is unmistakably
like her, and I do not hesitate to say that I consider it the best she
has ever had taken.
You are at liberty to publish this letter if you care to.
Yours very truly,
Eleanor D. Hoppin,
(Mrs. Joseph C. Hoppin.)
[5] I am writing to tell you how convinced I am that the Deane
photograph of Agnes Cushman is a spirit photograph of my niece.
To me the likeness is unmistakable but it is more than that — it
is Agnes at her best.
I am glad that Colonel Cushman has written an account of the
circumstances connected with the sitting for the Deane photograph
for the American Psychical Research Magazine [Journal] as I feel
that his article will be helpful and very interesting to many people.
Again I want to say how convinced I am of the fact that the
Deane photograph is an excellent likeness of my niece, Agnes
Cushman.
Believe me.
Cordially yours,
Louise Foraker Cushman.
[6] I am very glad indeed to add my testimony to that of others in
relation to the Deane Spirit Photograph of my niece, Agnes Cush-
man.
Incidents.
147
1 believe it to be without question of doubt a photograph and
excellent likeness of her and, in view of the circumstances in connec-
tion with the taking of it, as stated by her father and mother, there
could be no doubt as to the evidence of the wonderful truth of the
possibilities of Spirit Photography and of the closeness of this life
and the hereafter.
Yours very sincerely,
Victor N. Cushman.
■05K
148 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
FURTHER ON "THE RIDDLE OF A CLOCK"
In the Journal of May, 1921, is a narrative by a prominent
lawyer and former Judge of Federal and Supreme Courts re-
garding the erratic behavior of a clock in- his house, which ap-
proximately coincided with the changes in the illness of his
daughter at a distance of about eight hundred miles.
The following letter was accidently omitted from the May
Journal.
October 19, 1920.
Dear Sir :
You will, I think, recall the correspondence relating to the
peculiar actions of a clock in my home, which apparently coincided
with the various phases of the illness of my daughter last winter.
You may be interested in knowing that the clock has been chiming
and striking normally ever since that time. Of course during our
absence in Florida in February and March it was not running, but
since our return April 2nd it has been running constantly, and has
not failed to chime and strike normally all of the time. The vagaries
in its action apparently began with her illness, and ended when she
was laid to rest. From that day until the day we left for Florida,
which was, I think, February 18th, there was nothing unusual in its
action, and this has been true during the entire six and a half months
since we returned.
Very respectfully.
Later, a letter was sent to Judge , inquiring how the
clock had behaved since the last report. This is the reply :
August 15, 1921.
Dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your favor inquiring concerning the behavior
of the clock referred to in the May issue of the Journal, since Oc-
tober 19th, 1920. I also received in due course copies of the Journal.
I feel that I owe you an apology for not sooner reporting an
incident which occurred last January, on the evening of the anniver-
sary of the day when our daughter’s fatal illness began. My excuse
(not a very good one) is that it occurred only a few very busy days
before our departure for Florida. While in Florida, the nearest
stenographer was three miles away, and my growing disinclination
to use the pen in correspondence accounts for my failure to write
while there, and on my return the accumulation on my desk of mat-
ters demanding attention drove it from my mind.
Incidents.
149
The clock is in my library, in which is also another which simply
strikes the hour. My wife and I usually spend our evenings read-
ing at a table near the chime clock. On the evening in question I
happened to glance at that clock just as the hands indicated the hour.
As the other clock commenced striking, I noticed that the chime clock
neither chimed nor struck. I called my wife’s attention to it, and we
watched and listened through the next hour. It neither chimed nor
struck during that hour. How long this had continued I do not
know. At the next hour it again commenced chiming and striking,
but struck three hours late. I then discovered that the chiming
mechanism and the striking mechanism were not working together.
At the hour, instead of chiming four times and then striking, it
chimed only once, twice at the quarter, three times at the half-hour,
and four times at the three-quarter. I allowed it to continue strik-
ing in this way for a couple of days, during which time I brought
the matter to the attention of my daughter, my son-in-law, and
others. I then corrected both the striking and chimes, so that it
again struck the hour properly and chimed properly. It continued
chiming and striking in a normal way until we left for Florida, and
when started on our return in April it again resumed chiming and
striking normally, and there has been no change since that time.
It is still striking and chiming as it should.
I give you these facts for what they are worth. It may have
been mere coincidence. If so, is it not remarkable that the only time
the mechanism of the clock has gone wrong since January, 1920,
was on that particular day? My statement will be confirmed by my
wife, my daughter and my son-in-law.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) . .
The following letter makes still more clear what happened
on the last occasion.
January 26th, 1922.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of the 17th inst. was duly received, but I have de-
layed answering it until after the anniversary of the death of our
daughter for obvious reasons.
In compliance with your request, I enclose statements by my
wife, my son-in-law, and my daughter, which will explain themselves.
Your letter indicates a misunderstanding of the occurrences on
the anniversary of my daughter’s illness, due doubtless to a lack of
clearness in my statement of what occurred on that occasion. When
my svife and I discovered that the clock was neither chiming nor
striking, we watched it with continued interest. When it did finally
strike, the hands indicated the hour but it only chimed once, and the
hour it struck was three hours behind what it should have been
which would indicate that it had probably been three hours since it
150 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had struck last. As I have said, it chimed once at that time, at the
quarter it chimed twice, and at the half-hour it chimed three times,
and at the three-quarter it chimed four times, and again did not
strike until the hands indicated the hour when it again chimed once
only and struck. My Son-in-law and daughter came in soon after,
and we talked about it and about the coincidence of the trouble
occurring on that particular anniversary. After a day or two, and
before we started for Florida, I succeeded in getting it to both
chime and strike correctly.
In response to a query, the Judge wrote, on Feb. 1st, 1922:
February 1, 1922.
“ I succeeded in getting the clock to strike correctly, by striking
it around. Correcting the chimes was more difficult, but that was
also accomplished by manipulation of the hands.
The clock has not been taken apart, cleaned, or had any mechani-
cal adjustment of any character for several years. For years it has
occupied its present position on a mantel in my library, and has not
been removed therefrom.”
It has never gone wrong since that time, and today is chiming
and striking as it should.
Very respectfully,
Corroboration 1.
January 26th, 1922.
Dear Sir :
I remember the erratic action of the clock, which my husband
has told you about, on both occasions referred to by him. It im-
pressed us all deeply. Of course I have no personal knowledge of
what happened after I was called to my daughter’s bedside, until I
returned with her body. Otherwise I confirm the statements of my
husband. His statement of what happened last January on the an-
niversary of my daughter’s fatal illness, is also correct.
Very respectfully,
Mrs. .
Corroboration 2.
January 26th, 1922.
Dear Sir:
The story of the clock as related by my father, caused our family
much thought, and we wondered if it could not have some connection
with the illness of my sister. We were again reminded of it on the
anniversary of her illness, as the clock again went wrong in chiming
and striking. This seemed a peculiar happening, as the clock has at
all other times struck and chimed correctly.
Respectfully,
' Mrs. J. P. H .
Incidents.
151
Corroboration 3.
January 26th, 1922.
Dear Sir :
I have just finished a careful reading of the letters pertaining to
the peculiar performance of the clock in my father-in-law’s home.
The statement of happenings is entirely correct, and at the time we
discussed the matter and wondered if it could be a mere coincidence
Immediately after the burial, the clock resumed chiming and striking
correctly, and continued to do so until last January, when, on the
anniversary of her serious and fatal illness, it again chimed and
struck incorrectly, as he has described it.
Very respectfully,
J. P. H .
The facts can be best appreciated by arranging them in paral-
lel columns.
Illness of Daughter
Jan. 5, 1920, dangerous
symptoms developed.
Jan. 7, grew worse, and by
Jan. 7, was thought to be dy-
ing.
Jan. 7, later, pleural fluid
removed ; she began to improve
Jan. 10.
Not remembered just when
the state took a bad turn, but
not later than 17th and proba-
bly earlier.
Better Jan. 21.
A change for the worse
(date not stated). Death Jan.
25, funeral Jan. 29.
First anniversary of day
when the fatal illness began.
Behavior of Clock
[No previous erratic be-
havior. ]
Clock stopped striking Jan.'
Chimes also ceased Jan. 6.
Jan. 9, p. m., commenced to
chime; Jan. 11, a. m., also re-
sumed striking.
Stopped striking Jan. 13,
also stopped chiming Jan. 16.
At about the same time
striking and chiming were re-
sumed, but only for a few
hours.
Completely silent.
Resumed striking and chim-
ing Jan. 31, and continued to
do so ( save when the house was
shut up) for nearly a year.
On evening of third day
ceased to chime or strike for
several hours.
No further aberrations for
more than a year, to date of
last report, Jan. 26, 1922.
V. .00;i
152 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
CONVERSAZIONE.
Some Odd Particulars in the Hope Psychographs.
The photographs produced by William Hope, of Crewe, are those
around which discussion, in England, of spirit photography prin-
cipally enters. The reports have roused considerable interest upon
this side, and in our January issue appeared a note by an American
correspondent, Mr. E. A. Gellot, illuminating one incident. We
have had some correspondence with Englishmen who are in touch
with the phenomena, and also offered to a certain English periodical
certain facts and queries which it was thought might rouse pleasant
and profitable discussion. That plan failed, and it does not seem
to us that our correspondent in his answering letter lightened the
burden of difficulty. We present the greater part of the proffered
article here, to see if by this means responses can be elicited from
those most familiar with the Crewe phenomena. If thus successful,
we may be encouraged to advert to other features and propound
further queries.
November 14th, 1921.
My present difficulty is with the Latin and French in the Hope
psychographs particularly, and also with the Latin in those of Mr.
Hooper. Unless otherwise stated, my references in parentheses will
be to pages in Prof. Henslow's ” Proofs of the Truths of Spir-
itualism.”
I. With the exception of a few pseudo-Latin words (two ex-
amples, page 215) the odd combination " amicus sumus plurimum,"
(page 214) and another sentence on a photograph secured from
England, all the Latin words and phrases which have come to
my notice are stock ones, easily found in printed tables of such
phrases. Here is the Crewe list: nisi Dominus frustra (210),
Dilcge amicos (210), Deo favente (211), esto quod videris (211,
215), tnagna est verilas et pracz'alebit (211, 215), ne plus ultra (212,
215), videlicet (212), post meridiem (214), certum [voto omitted)
pete finem (215), confide recte agens (215), fortuna favet fortibus
(215). principiis obsta (215), marluis nil nisi bonutn (215), hinc
illae lacrimae [laclirytnar] (photograph from England), omnia vincil
amor (photograph from England.)
I would inquire:
Conversazione.
153
1. Does the spirit include these Latin phrases to exhibit his
scholarship?
2. If not, what is his reason?
3. How is his dependence upon a table of phrases such as in
our world is to be found in dictionaries and other books, explained ?
If it is not already apparent that there is, immediately or
mediately, this dependence, it will surely be evident in the case of
the spirits who make psychographs through Mr. Hooper. The fol-
lowing is the exact order of phrases to be found on pages 201-202 of
Henslow, presenting a single psychograph :
(1) Conscio [concio] ad clerem.
(2) Commune bonum.
(3) Dei gratia
(4) De mortuis nil nisi bonum.
(5) De nihilo nihilum in nihilum nil posse reverti.
(6) Ad Pat res.
(7) Fiat justitia ruat coelum.
It is certain that, were not spirits concerned, we should conclude
that the person who set down these phrases did so with a table of
foreign phrases before him, for they are almost in exact alphabetical
order, with the exception of ad Patres, which is also a stock phrase
but is ungrammatically connected with what precedes it. By what
logic, then, can we escape the conclusion that the spirit who wrote
this was dependent upon such a table?
4. Is the spirit dependent upon the medium for access to the
list of stock phrases?
5. Or does the spirit himself consult a spirit handbook of Latin
phrases?
II. The problem is augmented when we note in a Crewe psycho-
graph sent from England this Latin : ob mort-cs nostr-orum fratr-um
dob-emus. Unembarrassed by spiritistic implications we would with-
out hesitation say that the writer copied the passage from a text-
book for teaching Latin, wherein the case and tense endings were
separated from the roots by hyphens, ignorantly supposing that the
words are always so divided, I am unable to see how the spirit
writer clears himself from the same imputation, and would like to
ask whether he wrote the passage to prove his scholarship or for
what reason ; why he divided the words, if not because they were
found so divided in a textbook ; whether he became familiar with the
phrase by sending the medium to look for it; or whether Latin is
taught by similar devices on the other side, so that he had immediate
access to such a textbook. Since there was no notice before or after
the writing (at least we have not been so informed) that a book test
was attempted, it would be rather late in the day, and decidedly
forced, to give this explanation.
III. The Latin stock phrases are usually correct (except for
154 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
a mis-spelling or two, and the occasional omission of a word) as
we should expect them to be in any case, but they show no particular
appropriateness to the special occasion. The French, however, at
least in one passage (Crewe psychograph, pages 214-215) was mani-
festly to fit the occasion. But it is horrible French. I present an
exact translation of the greater part of it : “ to please in being honor
with for (the Latin ‘pro’) company we count on you will to be a
little to astonish by this (feminine gender) a (masculine gender)
message in this [masculine gender] manner [feminine gender].”
Here is the original passage with a few introductory Latin words:
" amicus sutnus plurimum plaire en etre honneur avec pro compagnie
nous comptons sur vous volonte etre un peu etonner par cette un
message en cet maniere ’’ (pp. 214-215). The rest is stock phrases
or unintelligible. If spirits were not in question and this stuff was
put before me, I should say that the writer had no knowledge of
French or Latin. A glance at the misspellings, wrong genders, the
use of nouns where verbs were intended, and the wrong form of
verbs would show that. Then how was it concocted, whether by man
or spirit ?
I note a curious thing. Suppose a small boy wished to translate
into French and Latin this passage which he had devised : “ Friends.
We are very much pleased to be honored with your company. We
feel sure you will be a little astonished by this message in this man-
ner.” He would naturally go to an English-French and an English-
Latin lexicon. Then, provided he looked up the French or Latin
equivalents, and took the first or second he found under each of the
English words in those lexicons, and supposing that he did not know
how to alter the verbs, pronouns, etc., to fit his sentences, but took
just what he found, that he was too ignorant to discriminate between
two words of the same spelling, and that he was not careful to spell
the copied words correctly, we would have almost exactly the result
given above. By some curious blunder he would translate “ your ”
by pro and hit on the correct form of “ comptons " probably by the
fortunate chance of noting it in a quoted phrase. Hesitating be-
tween “ this ” and “ a ” before ” message ” he would forget and put
the equivalents of both down. And “ feel ” was probably not the
word he had in mind, but one of similar meaning, yet undiscovered.
But I could hardly doubt that the French-Latin passage was con-
structed from the English end of two lexicons. Mr. Gellot’s inde-
pendent reconstruction of the original English sentences is almost
identical with my own.
Without repeating my earlier question, now grown monotonous.
I desire to make one more respectful inquiry. If spirits produced
the messages in Latin and French which, had they been produced by
mortals, would strongly if not inevitably suggest, now the use of a
table of Latin phrases, now of an elementary Latin textbook, and
again of English-Latin and English-French lexicons, and all with
Conversazione.
155
intent to deceive, were the spirits, by a series of unfortunate though
necessary conditions, constrained to imitate all these appearances of
fraud, or did they do so as a somewhat drastic and unfair test of our
faith, or what other intelligible and intelligent reason can be given?
Our English correspondent writes: “ My position is to stick very
closely to the facts and not to be deterred by the consideration that
they do not coincide with our prepossessions or that they raise a
number of difficulties.” Very good, but we are sticking closer than
a brother to the facts, which are the same whatever our preposses-
sions may be, and the way to resolve difficulties is not by evading
them.
Our correspondent also remarks that since reading Professor
Henslow’s book he is “ surprised to find ” that “ the various scraps
of Latin, Greek and French were ‘ worked into ’ various short spirit
messages as an experiment in the way of seeing how far it would be
possible to introduce foreign languages into messages given through
an uneducated medium,” and thinks that we have not read the book-
very carefully or we " would not raise difficulty where there is none.”
We have tried hard to get a glimmer of relief from this statement.
It is true that we have not yet found the passage referred to, but,
granting it is in the book, how does it alter the situation? There is
supposed to be some added evidential value achieved by the intro-
duction of these sentences and phrases in languages unknown to this
medium. On the contrary the purported spirits have thus created
suspicious features which did not exist before. If all the linguistic
attempts had been faulty we would not raise an issue, for the errors
could be explained, plausibly, as due to difficulties of transmission.
Or if both old passages as well as those constructed for the occasion
were correct, we would remain silent. But we find that the “ spirit’s ”
abilities and limitations are exactly what those of the “ uneducated
medium ” would be, if he prepared the psychographs himself. He
could copy the stock phrases fairly correctly, and the " spirit ”
does so. He would not always understand them well enough to
fit them accurately into an English sentence, and the “ spirit ” can-
not. If he attempted to construct a sentence in an unfamiliar lan-
guage to fit the occasion, he would consult a bi-lingual lexicon and
make exactly the sort of blunders that the “ spirit ’’ makes. He
would not know that it is not correct, outside of a textbook, to sep-
arate the case and tense endings of words by hyphens, and the
156 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ spirit ” appears not to know, either. We had not discovered any
law compelling spirits to adhere undeviatingly to the line of appear-
ances which characterize human fraud. Granted that there were
experiments “in the way of seeing how far it would be possible
to introduce foreign languages into messages by an uneducated
medium," the results seem to prove that in these particular experi-
ments this was possible just so far as the uneducated medium could
introduce them himself, if he had a chance.
But we doubt if, after this date, any medium who has reading
friends will find on his plate a psychograph containing six Latin
phrases in exactly the order that they occur in printed tables. This
might be true on any hypothesis.
Confirmatory details. Our correspondent, Mr. H. C. Hoskier,
referring to what was said on pages 20-21 of the January Journal,
about the psychometrical report on the piece of marble from Mt.
Gerazim, calls our attention to citations from Thomson’s “ The Land
and the Book.” It appears that the psychometrist’s position “ in a
hole," was quite possible as the book says (p. 253) that “ these
ancient sites are perfectly honeycombed with ” old cisterns, and that
you must “ look closely at your path if you would not plunge head-
long into ” one. Also, there is specific mention of an old cistern on
Mt. Gerazim near where the temple once stood, now “ half full of
stones,” and of other “ excavations.” There is no trace of the temple
itself, and the fragment presented is probably from the ruins of the
church, built by Justinian, it is believed, about 533 A.D. As “ the
only capital uncovered was of a debased Corinthian order” this
church must have had arches and columns, as the medium stated.
Our correspondent says that the whole country .is filled with
traces of volcanic activity. Whether there has been an active vol-
cano within sight since a thousand years ago has not been ascertained.
H
Book Reviews.
15 7
BOOK REVIEWS.
Spiritualism : A Popular History from 1847. By Joseph McCabe.
New York, 1920. Pp. 240.
We confess that we have thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is not a
history, but a racy narrative, written by a man who, it seems, does not
believe that the “ supernormal ” has any existence in fact, and who has
put together his work in the hope that his readers may be left with the
same impression. A short unbiased history of the spiritualistic move-
ment was wanted, but Mr. McCabe has not fulfilled that want. A his-
tory, in order to be worth anything, ought to consist in the presentation
of an ordered array of facts and events untinged by the author's own
special predilections. Mr. McCabe’s prejudices, on the contrary, do
not permit him to marshal a mere chronicle of events supplemented by
a dispassionate criticism. He delights in fraud and fraud hunting, and
if a medium has ever been detected in such practices, he or she is
promptly dismissed with some caustic comments. When certain medium-
istic phenomena do not admit of so easy a treatment, Mr. McCabe resorts
to the “ mirrors or wires ” theory of the youth at a conjuring enter-
tainment, or deliberately omits to mention mediums whose manifesta-
tions are both beyond his own explanation and also that of his advisers.
Thus although I find the name of Mrs. Wriedt on page 224, I do not find
the name of Mrs. Blake anywhere, nor have I discovered the name of
Mile. Tomczyk concerning whose phenomena enough has been written
now to enable Mr. McCabe to judge of their genuine or fraudulent char-
acter.
He has a good deal to say of D. D. Home whom he classifies as a
rank impostor and concerning whom he mentions the famous Merrifield
letter " exposing ” Home which was published in the English Journal
in July 1889. Saying that it is reproduced by Podmore in his Modern
Spiritualism (II, 230) he records the statement of Mr. Merrifield that
the alleged “ spirit hand ” was merely a false limb on the end of Home’s
arm. As a matter of fact it is in his Newer Spiritualism that Podmore
prints part of the letter and casts his vote in favor of the fraudulent
character of the manifestation. Although it is impossible to enter into a
discussion of the question in this place it may suffice to point out that
what Mr. Merrifield saw need not necessarily have been what Mr. Mc-
Cabe means by a false limb. It might conceivably have been what has
been termed a “ pseudopod,” and in that case although not a “ spirit
hand ” it would have been certainly something supernormal.
Despite the omissions and general atmosphere of prejudice which
this book exhibits it is a useful addition to the shelves of a psychical
researcher. We cannot say that it would be equally valuable in the
hands of an ordinary layman. The experienced student on reading this
book will most certainly enjoy it, for he will know, for example, why Mr.
McCabe mentions one medium and omits another. He has read more
158 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
than the layman and so can laugh heartily at Mr. McCabe's description
of M. von Kemnitz’s Modernc Mcdium-forschung as " an annihilating
criticism ” of Matcrialisation-Phacnomene , or at his discreet references
to the famous Blue Book. The layman, on the other hand is apt to be-
come bewildered by reading through a description of so many brazen
impostors. He will put down the book with the thought that all
spiritualistic phenomena are humbug and all mediums are frauds. As we
said at the beginning this was probably the author’s intention, and if so,
we congratulate Mr. McCabe on having so well succeeded in his task.
— E. J. D.
"Traitt de Graphologic Scicntifiquc." Bv Dr. Paul Joire. Vigot
Freres, Paris. Pp. VI 1+250.
Dr. Joire makes a systematic approach to the centre of his subject.
He shows that mental-emotional impressions manifest themselves in
bodily movements, voluntary or involuntary, conscious or unconscious,
and that the hands execute a large share of these. Writing, he asserts,
is simply a succession of gestures, which vary according to the tempera-
ment and emotionality of the writer and become habitual.
The first traces of graphology as a science are to be found as far
back as Aristotle and Suetonius, and in 1622 Camillo Baldo of Cologne
wrote a work entitled " How to Know the Nature and Traits of a Writer
by his Handwriting.” In the seventeenth century Lavater of Germany
pushed the study of the subject further, having too great a success,
since a flood of publications on the same subject followed, but were of
little value, so that the matter fell into discredit. But from 1869 the
Abbe Michon issued several works which constitute him the true creator
of graphology. If the anecdote related about Humboldt is authentic, he
gave striking proof of expert ability to judge the character of an un-
known person by his handwriting.
After answering quite reasonably the objections urged against the
practicability of graphology as an art for determining personal character-
istics, the author plunges into his main task, the analysis of human
characteristics and the description, with engraved illustrations, of the
corresponding peculiarities of handwriting. Being a Frenchman, the
author of course carries out his classification of human characteristics
to the last detail, slices human mentality up, down, and crisscross. In-
tellectually and emotionally, morally and aesthetically, he pigeon-holes
the human subject, and finds graphological characteristics to correspond
with every division.
There are two ways by which to present proof that mental and moral
characteristics are depicted in handwriting. One is the way of Dr.
Joire, which is to describe the characteristics and to present examples of
scripts which illustrate the correspondence. There are two objections
to this method, if we have proofs and not merely dogmatic instruction
in view. The first is that the examples given might be selected because
they happened to fit the laws laid down. It might be retorted that if the
correspondence did not concur, no laws would have come to light, but
we remember that the expounders of phrenology likewise classified
human qualities and assigned definite places in the brain, or at least on
Book Reviews.
159
the skull, for them all, yet phrenology, as a supposed science, is in “ the
sere and yellow leaf.” Also, in the case of scripts of famous men and
other persons whose traits were antecedently known to the author,
there could have been a little crowding to get them into pigeon-holes,
the author, a little obsessed by too great awareness, thinking that the
scripts conform more nearly to prescribed types than is visible to the
reader.
This is not a criticism of Dr. Joire, but of a method. His results may
be perfectly valid, the question is if his is the best method of proving his
thesis to the reader.
The other method is to secure from reputed experts in graphology,
descriptions of the personal characteristics of a large number of writers
of scripts entirely unknown to him, and subsequently to get from the per-
sons themselves and others who know them well, statements setting forth
in detail what particulars the graphologist got correctly and the par-
ticulars which were in error, as well as prominent characteristics about
which he made no mention. Thus there would be no opportunity for
conscious or unconscious selection or accommodation.
The reviewer is now making an extended investigation along these
lines, and, contrary to his expectation, is amassing data which thus far
show a tendency to support, in a general way, the views of Dr, Joire.
— W. F. P.
Claude's Book. Edited by (Mrs.) L. Kelway-Bamber. Henry Holt
and Company, New York, 1919. Pp. 106.
This book consists chiefly of seventeen “ talks," or informal lectures,
on supermundane subjects preceded by a letter from Sir Oliver Lodge,
a reply thereto, and an introduction. Claude Bamber. described as
“one of the merriest, happiest boys,” joined the army immediately war
began in August, 1914. He was killed in mid-air, fighting two German
aeroplanes, in November, 1915. This book of his talks was the result of
many regular sittings of his mother with Mrs. Osborne Leonard, the
famous London medium who received through “ Feda ” the well known
messages in the name of Raymond. Sir Oliver's letter is better than
any ordinary review could be, and gives a good idea not only of this
book but of others of its class, and also of the present state of our
knowledge of the art of automatic speaking and writing. — G. H.
Johnson.
The Religion of the Spirit World. By Rev. Prof. G. Henslow. Dodd,
Mead and Company, New York, 1920. Pp. xxvii+263.
Professor Henslow is both a clergyman and an ardent Spiritualist.
He accepts most of the alleged phenomena of Spiritualism as proved,
including psychometry and spirit photography. The present volume deals
with the religion of the spirit world “ as written by the spirits them-
selves.” The material comes largely from Stainton Moses, Heslop,
“ Julia,” “ Archdeacon Colley ” and others, receiving or purporting to
communicate through automatic writing. The doctrine is in line with
liberal Christianity and emphasizes the importance of altruism and the
reality of progress in a future life.
160 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Professor Henslow has written numerous other books on spiritualism
and religion, in some of which he may perhaps explain why, assuming a
message to be from a spirit, we should therefore credit the contents of
the message. The present volume is of little value until that question
is answered. It would also be possible to find in psychic records
plenty of passages differing from the doctrine stated. — Prescott F.
Hall.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rt. How. A. J. Balfour, London,
England.
Rt. Hon. Gerald W. Balfour,
Woking, England.
Prof. Sir Wh. F. Barrett, London,
England.
•Viscount James Bryce, Forest
Row, England.
•Sir William Crookes, London,
England.
Dr. Charles L. Dana, New York.
Prof. Max Dessoir Berlin, Germany.
Prof. Georce Dumas, Paris, France.
Camille FLAMMARioN.Juvisy, France.
•Prof Th. Flournoy, Geneva, Swit-
zerland
Prof. Sigmund Freud, Vienna,
Austria.
Prof. Pierre Janet, Paris, France.
HONORARY
Prof. H. Beaunis, Le Cannet, France.
Prof. Edouard Clafarede, Geneva,
Switzerland.
Cesar de Vesme, Paris, France.
Hon. Everard Feuding, London,
England.
Camille FLAMMARioN.Juvisy, France.
Prof. A. Forel, Yvome, Switzerland.
Prof. J. G basset, Montpelier, France.
Dr Paul Joire, Beauvais, France.
Dr David Starr Jordan, Chancellor
Stanford University, Cal.
Prof. C. G. Jung, Kussnach, Switzer-
land.
Sir Oliver J. Lodge, Birmingham,
England.
Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Paris, France.
Prof. William McDougall, Oxford
University, England.
Dr. Frederick Peterson, New York.
Dr. Morton Prince, Boston, Mass.
•Lord Rayleigh. Witham, England.
Prof. Charles Richet, Paris, France.
Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
Prof. Freiherr Von Schrenck-
Notzing, Munich, Germany.
Dr Boris Sidis, Portsmouth, N. H.
Mr C. J. Wilson, Dublin, Ireland.
MEMBERS
Dr. P. L. Ladame, Geneva, Switzer-
land.
Prof. Albert Moll, Berlin. Germany,
Prof. Enrico Morselli, Genoa, Italy.
•Prof. J. Ochorovics, Warsaw,
Russia.
Mr. J. G. Piddington, Woking, Eng-
land.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D., New York.
Dr Bonjoub de Rachewsky, Lau-
sanne, Switzerland.
•Mr. A. P. Sinnett, London, Eng-
land.
HONORARY ASSOCIATE
Dr. Sydney Alrutz, Upsala, Sweden.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
Prof A C. Armstrong, Middletown, Prof. John Dewey, Columbia Uni-
Conn. versify, New York City.
Dr. G. V. N. Dearborn. Cambridge, Prof. J. Gibson Hume, Toronto.
Mass. Canada
Prof. Adolf Meyer M. D„ Baltimore, Md.
• Decuied.
r
THE ENDOWMENT
OP THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corporation and is supported by contributions from its members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute ia perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
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character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
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Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
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should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
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POnM OF BEQUEST FOR THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
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of dollars.* in trust, however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,! a branch of
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• Io case the bequest is real estate, or other specific item* of property, they should be
sufficiently described for identification.
f In case the donor desires the funds used for Psycho-therapeutics this should read:
* in trust, however, for the benefit of its branch for the investigation of Psycho
therapeutics and for such purposes only."
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. April, 1922 No. 4
CONTENTS
PAGE
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
“A Certain Condescension” ; Mr. Dingwall’s Election . . 161
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. By Walter F.
Prince . • • • • . - 164
“Science” and a Book-Test. By E. J. Dingwall . . 190
A Little Lesson in Reporting. By James H. Hyslop . . . 195
INCIDENTS:
A Rare Type of Collective Visual Hallucination .... 197
Further On “Experiences, Chiefly With Mrs. Chenoweth.” By
“William Bruce.” 200
Apparition and Veridical Auditory Experience .... 213
Observations in Apparent Telepathy. Reported by the Rev. H.
W. Winklcy 215
BOOK REVIEWS:
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival (W. Whately Smith);
Spiritualism : Its Ideas and Ideals (David Gow) ; The Quimby
Manuscripts (Horatio W. Dresser) ..... 223
Published Monthly by the American Society lor Psychical Research.
Editorial. Research and Business Offices at 44 East 23rd 8b, New York, N. Y,
Printed by the York Printing Company, 12-26 South Water Sb, York, Pa.
Changes of Address should be sent to the A. S. P. R., at the York, Pa., Address,
Entered as second-class matter, July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March S, 1(79.
Annual Fee. tS.OO. Single Copies, SO cents. Foreign Fee, XI. la.
Goodie
t
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc., M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, .SB, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, MA, Ph.D., Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D, LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, Cat
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M., Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D., University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt. LL.D.. F.A.A.S., New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaem preset. B.S., LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D., Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D., LL.D., New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LL.D, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Pa.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D.
Miles M. Dawson.
Henry Holt.
George H. Hysiop, M.D.
Lawson Purdy.
VOLUME XVI— No. 4
APRIL, 1622
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Paob
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT 161
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to
Indicate Death. By Welter P. Prince 164
"Scienee" end e Book-Test. By E. J.
Dingwall 160
Pao*
A Little Lesson in Reporting. ByJsmes
H. Rjslop 196
INCIDENTS: 167
BOOK REVIEWS: . ft*
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rants entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer's true name
In withheld, it Is pres treed on file, and b that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
“ A Certain Condescension."
James Russell Lowell wrote an essay on “ A Certain Con-
descension in Foreigners,” which we are often reminded of by
sentences written with the most amiable intentions.
In the Psychic Research Quarterly of April, 1921, our friend
Mr. W. Whately Smith, after some complimentary remarks
about the exposure of the Keeler “ spirit ” photographs in our
Proceedings, observes: “Test conditions were either wholly
absent or absurdly inadequate, and the photographs are, on in-
ternal evidence alone, so palpably fraudulent that it is surprising
that they were ever accepted at all.” And later come the crown-
ing remarks : “ The case is not of sufficient importance to be
worth discussing at length. * * * More important is Mr. Ed-
ward Bush’s * Spirit Photography Exposed.’ ”
As a matter of fact, just as confident assertions had been
made regarding adequate control in the Keeler case as are made
in the Hope case that Mr. Smith was chiefly discussing, and it is
possible that the Keeler photographs were not so “ palpably
fraudulent ” before the selection of examples for printing out of
162 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
some thousands and the analysis of them, as they were afterward.
One has the feeling of having done the work too well. It is
possible that, after an equal amount of work has been done upon
the English protographs, it will be equally “ surprising that they
were ever accepted at all.”
And “ the case is not of sufficient importance,” etc. “ More
important ” is Bush’s little brochure relating one experiment,
which strongly implied but did not prove fraud. The Keeler
paper happens to be the most exhaustive analysis of a mass of
purported spirit photographs in existence, and it demolished the
claims of a man who has been deceiving thousands, including
many Englishmen, during the last forty years. That the little
tract which Mr. Bush could have written in a day is pronounced
more important seems to us a trifle provincial.
By the way, if Mr. Smith had paid a little more attention to
the Keeler paper, in spite of its comparative unimportance ,he
would not have said that all the protographs representing Mr.
Bocock were after one original when the fact, staring every
reader in the face from text and plates, was that they were
after two.
In Psyche of January, 1922, our erstwhile and much-missed
colleague, Mr. E. J. Dingwall, has an article, excellent like all he
writes, in which we read : “ Amongst materializing mediums the
same fraudulent practices go on as usual, and indeed it seems
difficult to believe that any but an American audience [our italics]
could be taken in by exhibitions of luminous cheesecloth."
Why did not Mr. Dingwall remark that it seems difficult to
believe that anywhere but in America a man could fun a “ psychic
college ” with a large following, who publicly maintains that
Houdini dematerializes in one of his stage acts, bones, lungs, liver
and clothing, passes through the glass walls of a tank, comes to-
gether in good shape again behind the curtain with every stitch
intact, and walks out before the audience? Why did he not
observe that it seems difficult to believe that Eglinton could, else-
where than in America, fool so many people into believing that
they were getting spirit scripts with the true life characteristics of
their relatives’ writing, when the published book of examples
shows so clearly that they are by one hand ? Why did he not, in
the article of his in our Journal last month, nonchalantly wonder
Announcement and Comment
163
if any but an American creator of shrewd detective stories could
make such crude apologies for the trickster Bailey? Evidently
because all these people happened to belong to the tight little
island.
Lowell says : “ Console yourself dear man and brother, what-
ever else you may be sure of, be sure at least of this, that you are
dreadfully like other people. Human nature has a much greater
genius for sameness than originality." There are gullible people
in every land, and the English immigrants who frequent the
cheesecloth affairs are fooled in the same way as are the native
bom. It was the crudest imposture which Mr. Dingwall ever
saw, and it was the crudest that we ever saw in America.
When one of the Yankees who went over in 1874 and
swindled the Bank of England out of £300,000 was asked by the
judge what he had to say before sentence, he pleaded extenuation
on the ground that the crude methods of that famous institution,
which neglected precautions common to banks in America,
tempted human nature more than it was able to bear. “ It was
like leaving money on a doorstep.” This anecdote, embodying
an American instance of “ a certain condescension ” will, we
hope, make amends for calling attention, in a playful spirit, to
an occasional insularity in the modes of speech of our British
cousins.
Mr. Dingwall’s Election.
News comes that Mr. E. J. Dingwall, late Director of the
Department of Physical Phenomena in this Society, has been
elected Research Officer of the English Society. We congratu-
late both the man and the organization upon this favorable
conjunction.
164 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
DREAMS SEEMING, OR INTERPRETED, TO
INDICATE DEATH.1 2
By Walter F. Prince.
The following summary of 85 dreams ostensibly, or sup-
posedly indicating the deaths of particular persons, represents
but the debris of one division of the results attained by a ques-
tionnaire sent out by Dr. Hodgson, thirty years ago. If the
reader will consult the “ Report of the Committee on Phantasms
and Presentiments,” by Prof. J. Royce, beginning on page 350
of the Proceedings of the former “ American Society,”1 and con-
tinue through the Appendix, beginning on page 429, he will find
18 dreams of the above specification which were the pick of the
collection. The most of them present either higher claims to the
supernormal, or else are much more strongly corroborated and
buttressed, than any which now for the first time see light.
1. This summary of one division of the results (minus the cases al-
ready printed) of the only large Questionnaire which organized psychi-
cal research in this country has ever sent out, was prepared at the re-
quest of the late Dr. Hyslop, who delayed printing it until the other
divisions should be summarized similarly. This was also largely done,
but it is not the intention of the present editor to print the other sec-
tions. The object of printing this is partly stated in the preface, and
partly follows :
The editor has wished, from the time that he became officially con-
nected with the Society, that another Questionnaire should be issued on
a broad scale, including if not comprising dreams. To bring the matter
to the attention of those prominently interested, an “ Analysis of an
Old Questionnaire ” was published in the Journal of April, 1921. Not
long thereafter, the Advisory Scientific Council began to discuss the
project of a new inquiry, and a basis for it is now being planned. A
survey of the 103 death dreams furnishes a gauge by which to measure
what is to be expected. Judging by the past dreams of this specific
nature will show apparent relevance to eternal events in about one-
third of the cases, while two-thirds will show none. About one-
half of the coincidental dreams, or one-sixth of the entire number, will
conform to the various criteria of authenticity so as to count in the
final test of evidentiality. This is the expectation only; the actual re-
sults may diverge greatly from the estimate, especially since the basis
of but 103 cases is quite inadequate.
2. Proceedings of A. S. P. R., Vol. I., No. 4, March, 1889.
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 165
1 t then certain dreams were discarded because they presented
inferior claims or none at all, why bring them forward now?
Because they are a part of a body of facts collected at a par-
ticular time. If the object of the Society were solely to prove
the supernormal, they would not be worth while, but it is not,
The time was when, in order to attract attention to the facts at
all, it may have been politic to exhibit only selections ; the time
will come when any such general exhibit will be superfluous, as is
“ carrying coals to Newcastle.” But now and for some time yet
what is needed is the study of every related variety of the species
of fact under consideration; the inspection, as it were, of the
whole animal. The exhibit of the essentials of a hundred and
three dreams of this character, with all their more or less com-
plete correspondences with outer facts, or their utter lack of
correspondences, presents to view a section of universal reality
of a particular type, in the sense that a tiny bite out of an apple
gives the quality of the whole apple.
Let it be distinctly noted that the eighteen death dreams
selected and printed in 1889 belong to the exhibit. Nearly all
these present striking, and some of them complex, coincidences
with actual deaths, and the majority of them are corroborated by
the testimony of others. They are, by number, as follows : 1 1 ,
14(d), 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 31, 32, 35. 36, 37, 38, 54. 55. 63(4),
64, and 71. Readers who cannot find patience or opportunity to
look these up should keep very prominently in their minds the
fact of their existence and quality, as he here surveys the mere
remnants after the plums have been picked out.
Seventeen of the eighty-five dreams to be summarized are
more or less coincidental, sixty-eight do not profess to be coinci-
dental at all. But both classes bear out the impression made upon
Professor Royce :
“ Our stories bear in general the marks of being not mere pro-
ducts of folk-lore, or of systematic superstition, but rather expres-
sions of genuine experience, * * * * which is, in most cases, the
fresh, live product of real mental processes, and not the manufac-
tured tale of popular legend.”
And we are able to echo these words the more frankly since,
in the failure of Professor Royce's then favorite hypothesis of
166 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“pseudopresentiment” (more properly pseudomemory) to ac-
count for more than a very few such cases, we are convinced that
the most are not simply " genuine [psychological] experiences,”
but genuine precedent dreams.
Dreams More or Less Coinciding with Facts.
I. Reported by Dr. T. F. A., New York City, Nov. 16, 1887.
“ Several years since, my wife’s father had a very vivid and dis-
tressing dream of his brother rolling over and over in a kind of
mist. He was wakened in affright from the dream and in the morn-
ing told the family that he feared to hear of the death of this
brother. Some days after the news came that his brother had been
killed, that very night by a railway accident in which the cars were
pitched over a high embankment.”
II. Reported by Miss Mary F. Carew, New Haven, Ct., June
20, 1888.
In April, 1881, she had a very vivid dream of the sickness, death
and funeral of her grandfather, at that time well. In the dream she
was hastily summoned home. About a week later he was taken ill
and she was hastily summoned, arriving a few days before his death.
III. Reported by Olana Dahl (Gale), a Yale theological student.
May 7, 1888.
“ On the morning of Monday, March 19, I dreamed that a man.
about middle age fell and died shortly afterwards. I had no distinct
idea of how the man appeared, but the fact that it was in Wis.,
where I have my home was plain, although the particular locality I
could not tell. The dream occurred to me again after I had arisen
in the morning and again in the forenoon, when studying my lesson.
About 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, I received a tele-
gram saying, * Johnson died yesterday.’ This gave me no due to
the manner of his death, but it still seemed that some accident had
befallen him, and one more fact, it seemed to me he must have
(been) hurt and if so in the upper body on the left side. This
proved upon my receiving a more specific account to have been the
case. He was out hunting in connection with another man and
accidentally shot himself in the left arm and shoulder. He fdl at
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 167
once but soon revived so as to be perfectly rational, until the next
morning, Sunday (18th), at about 5 o’clock, when he expired.”
It is not certain, from the account that the experiences of young
Dahl were not waking apparitions rather than dreams. In answer
to questions he stated that he had never had any similar experiences.
The dream or vision had the appearance of being insistent, coming
thrice on the day after the death, the last time a few hours after the
arrival of the telegram announcing it.
IV. Reported by Chandler Davis, apparently a student at
Harvard College, Dec. 16, 1887.
“ On the 1st of Oct. an aunt of mine sailed from Bremen for
New York, the voyage lasted about eleven days.
“ On Thursday and Friday, Oct. 6th and 7th and I think on Tues-
day, Oct. 4th, I had a dream that my relative died at sea. The dream
I had on Friday was so vivid and real that I was about to write to
my brother about who was to meet my aunt. I dreamt that I went
down to the steamer. The captain received me and took me to his
stateroom and there he broke the matter to me. In the third dream
I saw my aunt lying in her stateroom.
“ When the steamer arrived I received a telegram informing of
my aunt’s death, which occurred on Friday, Oct. 7th.”
V. Reported by Elise Eberaus, Boston, March 20, 1889.
“ Dream. I saw my maid swoon, and as I caught her in my
arms I observed on her face and hands quite black spots. I was
very much frightened and said, Poor Lizett! that is a mortal illness,
she must go to the hospital, — and I awoke.
“ The Actual Facts. Two days later I saw my maid in the
same condition as I had dreamed, she was fearfully sick, I sent her
straight to bed. When the doctor came he could not be certain until
the next day, when it turned out that she had the diphtheria, and she
was taken to the hospital. She has now been there three weeks. It
was told me that one night when she was so sick and could not get
her breath, her face became quite black. She is getting on better
now, and in two weeks she will be entirely well. Elise Eberaus.
(Translated from the German.)”
168 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
VI. Ibid, same place and date.
“ Six years ago I dreamed that our family doctor had suddenly
died after having been ill only twenty-four hours; he had suffered
terribly.
“ Some days after this really took place, inside the same twenty-
four hours he was healthy and dead, and he underwent terrible suf-
fering. One year previously, Dr. Piquot had swallowed a little piece
of stone, which worked down to the appendix and stopped up an
opening ; nothing could save him. Elise Eberaus.”
Both the excellence of this case as to the facts reported, and
what it lacks by way of contemporary record and corroboration,
are evident.
VII. Reported by Dr. C. W. Fillmore, Providence, R. I.t about
Oct. 30, 1887.
“ Dream of Mrs. Susan F. Fillmore, in March, 1829. Mv
brother Henry had not been heard from for four and a half years
and was supposed to be dead. I had not seen him since he was
seven years old. I was sixteen years his senior. I dreamed that he
came to my house in Providence, rang the bell and was admitted by
me. He was in sailor’s dress with a tarpaulin hat on his head. I
exclaimed at once, ‘Why Henry! how came you here and in this
dress? ’ He replied, ' How did you know me? ’ I answered, * Be-
cause you look just as you did when you were a little boy.’ He then
said, 1 1 have been shipwrecked and have lost all my clothes, and
these I have on the sailors gave me. I escaped from the wreck by
swimming a great distance at the risk of my life. I got aboard of a
ship which brought me to New York.’ I asked him if he had been
home (Keeseville, N. Y.) and he replied ‘ no,’ I then said to him,
‘ Don’t go home until you have written to mother who thinks you are
dead.' He then said, * I finally thought I might never have a better
opportunity to come and see you and so got aboard the steamer
for Providence.' This dream was repeated the same night in all its
details. In the course of a week I addressed a letter to my mother,
Mrs. Nancy Cook, Keeseville, N. Y., and narrated therein my dream,
telling her I was persuaded that Henry was alive and would shortly
be heard from. In the following month (April), I received a letter
from her, beginning thus : * Your dream has come true ; we have just
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 169
had a letter from Henry from New York City corroborating much
of your dream though differing in some particulars. . . . The Eng-
lish ship bound for New Orleans in which he took passage at the
island of Cuba (as he had written us he should when his business
was finished) was captured by a Spanish warship, and both passen-
gers and crew were made prisoners, and had been kept on board of
her for more than four years when she anchored on the eastern
coast of South America and within sight of an American vessel,
though at a distance of three or four miles, to which he swam,
leaving all his effects behind ; taking advantage of the absence of the
officers who were on shore attending a grand church festival. . . .
He was supplied with a suit of clothes by the sailors precisely as
related in your dream.' N. C.
“ Will Mr. Hodgson please give me his opinion of the above ?
[Dr.] C. W. Fillmore.
“The above was written by my son from my recital, and my
mother’s letter, and is all true. Susan F. Fillmore.”
From letter by Dr. Fillmore, Nov. 3, 1887.
“ I regret that the original letter referred to is no longer extant.
It was destroyed some seventeen years ago with many other letters,
previous to our change of residence. I preserved the essential par-
ticulars of the incidents in my scrapbook from which I copied what
I sent you.”
From letter by Dr. Fillmore, Nov. 21, 1887.
“ It will not do to dismiss my mother’s dream on account of its
antiquity; she was 43 at the time of that dream in 1839.”
From letter by Dr. Fillmore, Dec. 19, 1888.
“ I have no record of the original letter of my grandmother to
my mother (stating the fulfillment of the dream) which it was not
thought essential to preserve at that time as all the family were
cognizant of his return some weeks following the dream and of the
incidents he related corroborating it. The letter was extant how-
ever for two or three years after its receipt. I wish you could
elucidate the cause of this dream."
170 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
From letter by Dr. Fillmore, Dec. 24, 1888.
“ I cannot state the date of my record regarding the dream ; my
mother had previously often related the dream which had become
indelibly fixed in her memory, but wishing to preserve it, I one day,
some years ago, got her to dictate it for my recording. She is
positive that the original letter recorded these words : — ‘ Susan, your
dream has come true; we have heard from Henry who has arrived
in New York,’ etc., etc. My mother had two sisters and five
brothers, all of whom were familiar with the facts, and the two
sisters, one of whom is still living in California, were living in the
same village with their parents at the date of these occurrences.”
VIII. Reported through Mrs. Brown.
Dream of Mrs. Albert W. Hubbard, Fitchburg.
“ Mrs. H. is connection of mine by her marriage, and I have
known her intimately for years. She has never had any other ex-
periences in any way similar, and is a little inclined to look upon this
as rather different from a dream, she says it seems more like a
vision than a dream.
“ About thirteen years ago in the summer, about July, she was
packing up to go to New Haven to see her mother. She lived in
Fitchburg, and was to take with her her two little girls. She packed
on Saturday, and Sunday night or rather Monday morning, woke up
very early, then drowsed again. She seemed to be awakened by a
knock at the back door, and in her dream rose to answer it. As she
went through the next room she was met by two little children whom
she recognized as her daughter Nellie, who died five or six years
before, and Nellie’s cousin Jessie, who died soon after her. She
was surpised to see them, remembering that they were dead, yet it
did not seem very strange. They were laughing about something,
as though they knew some pleasant secret. She said, * Why Nellie!
Why Jessie! What are you laughing at ? Can’t you tell me? What
is it?’ They did not answer, but nestled together laughing, and as
she questioned, again she heard the knock at the door. She went
to the door, in the dim light of very early dawn, and there stood her
sister Hitty. (She lived in Indianapolis at the time and when last
heard from some little time before, was quite well, and there was
nothing to make Mrs. H. think of her.) She was bareheaded, and
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 171
had a sorrowful expression, and did not speak. Mrs. H. said, ‘ Why,
Hitty! Where did you come from?’ and thought it exceedingly
strange that she should be there at that hour and with no hat on,
and asked again, ‘ Where did you come from ? How did you get
here?' Not getting any answer, she said, 'Won’t you come in?’
and they went in together, and found the children gone. Hitty said,
‘ You are going home tomorrow.’ Mrs. H. said, ‘ How did you
know that?’ Hitty said, 'I thought I would come and go with
you.’ Mrs. H. was pleased, thinking it would be a help to her in the
care of the little girls; but it all seemed so strange, and Hitty ap-
peared so strange and quiet and sad the wonder of it woke her up.
She told her husband, who agreed with her in thinking it was a
most remarkable dream.
“ She had a very pleasant journey, several strangers helping her
with the children, and everything being ‘ as pleasant as if Hitty had
really been there to help,’ and on reaching New Haven her sister’s
first words were the news of Hitty’s sudden death in Minneapolis,
they having just received word of it.
“ The children, Nellie and Jessie, were both very fond of their
aunt, whom they knew well, and would have been much pleased to
have seen her — it seemed afterwards as though they had seen her
and knew — and knew that I did not know, Mrs. H. said.
“ Mrs. H. could not give the exact time of the death, but thought
she could tell by looking it up or writing for it, while the over-
Sunday would help to fix the time of the dream. I have written
down the story as she told it, — I read it to her to see that it was all
right, not because I did not think that you would want it first-hand,
but because it will be interesting to see how the spoken and the writ-
ten account would agree, should you care to send to her for her
account.”
The correspondences are strong: (a) Hitty’s appearing
“ strange and quiet and sad ” was calculated to arouse apprehen-
sions that death or disaster had happened to her ; (b) The appear-
ance of two children who were dead pointed more precisely to
death as the event which had happened to Hitty ; (c) The fondness
of the children for Hitty made their appearance in the dream the
more natural, assuming the supernormal character of the latter;
( d ) The laughter of the children has a symbolical fitness, indi-
172 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
eating the joy on the other side at the arrival of loved friends;
(e) The fact that on Mrs. H.’s arrival in New Haven that same
day, a sister apprised her of Hitty's death of which word had
just arrived indicated that the dream occurred not far from the
time of the dream, but whether simultaneously, before or after,
does not appear. She told her husband of the dream, apparently
before starting on the journey.
On the other hand it might be said : (a) Many persons have
dreams of, or reasonably indicating, death, without outward cor-
respondence of fact. The correspondence in this case may be a
mere coincidence, ( b ) especially as it was not announced in the
dream in plain terms that Hitty was dead, nor does Mrs. H. say
that she so interpreted the dream before she heard the news.
Therefore any one of a number of events might have been sup-
posed a fulfilment, (c) The dream may have come about in this
way. Mrs. H. was intending to take her two little girls with
her; these called up two other little girls, the deceased daughter
and niece. Nellie and Jessie were very fond of aunt Hitty, which
fact called the latter into the dream, in preference to the other
relatives whom she was planning to visit. As is often the case,
the dreamer was able to take into account certain external facts,
and to perceive the incongruity of details of the dream in relation
to them; realizing that it is night and that Hitty is supposed to
be far away, the dreamer has a sense of mystery and of some-
thing being wrong, which imparts to Hitty the appearance of
being “strange, quiet and sad." ( d ) No certificates from hus-
band, sister or any other person are cited to substantiate the
statements (to be sure, there is no indication that any were
asked for) nor does there appear any proof or even data how
closely the dream synchronized with the death.
IX. Narrator, Thomas King. Reported in Boston Globe of Feb.
17, 1888; corrections in letter by narrator to Dr. Hodgson, March
5, 1888.
The newspaper story stated that King dreamed that the bark
Isadore, upon which he had planned to sail as one of the crew, went
down with all hands, and so refused to go on the vessel, which
actually put out from Kennebunkport, Me., Oct. 13, 1842, with fif-
teen named persons on board, and went to pieces in a storm, on the
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 173
rocks near Bald Head cliff at York. The corrections appear in the
following letter.
“ Mr. Hodgson :
“ Dear Sir : There are some little items in the Globe that need a
little correction.
" 1st comes the date of my age. I shall be 84 next April instead of
85 as the Globe has it.
“ 2nd. About my going to Gt. Falls is a mistake. I went to
Lebanon, Me., instead.
“ 3rd. There is some little mistake about my age when I left
England. I was 13 years instead of fifteen.
“ 4th. Now I will rectify a little mistake in regard to the Dream.
In the first place I dreamed I was on board the bark, going down
Kennebunk river, and when we got to the piers every person in the
bark disappeared. And I sang out ‘Good Lord, what has brought
me on board this bark all sole alone.' At this outcry my wife woke
me. And I went to sleep again and the same dream was repeated.
My wife woke me the second time. Again I slept and the same
dream was repeated the same as in the two preceding instances, only
I was not disturbed again by my wife, as in the two previous dreams.
I looked on deck and I saw eighteen empty coffins and made in-
quiries what they were for. In answer to my question Capt. Foss
said there was one a piece for each of the crew, but I was so poor
there was none for me, by this time the bark had got out some way
and she was laboring heavy and on her beam ends and her maintop
gallant sail had got adrift and the Capt. wanted to know if he had a
man on board that would go and save the sail. I made this reply that
I was not afraid to go to any part of the bark as long as the spar
and rigging would hold. And I went and saved it, and I looked
from the yardarm into the water and I saw a large flat rock and I
leaped from the yard arm on to it. But instead of leaping to the rock
I had leaped over my wife and child and again my wife woke me
and I found I was standing on the floor. It made an impression on
my mind that something would happen to the vessel and no threats
or persuasion could induce me to go to sea in her. She went to sea
and was lost the first night out and all on board perished.
Thos. King.”
174 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
According to the newspaper article (and Mr. King’s silence upon
this point in his letter seems, considering how particular he is to
point out even unimportant errors, to endorse it), the dreamer was
unable to get a release from the captain of the ill-starred bark, and
ran away in order not to go in her.
Of course this story was very old, and uncorroborated.
X. Reported by W. M., a student at Yale College, March 17,
1889.
About a year previously he dreamed of a death-bed, and “ it
came true ” a month later. As he refused to give any further par-
ticulars, four-fifths of the value of his statement departed.
XI. Reported by O. B. Maginnis, New York City, April 21,
1889.
In the ’forties Mr. Collins, manager of the noted Collins line of
steamers, came into the office of the company and announced that
the steamer Atlantic had gone down and that his wife and child were
among the drowned, with other details, all of which proved to be
true, when the news came several days after the dream.
The full story is impressive, but (a) it is remote in time, (b)
the man who told it to the reporter is not named, though described
as “ one who was highly respected in English maritime circles,” (c)
all the persons connected with the incident were dead at the time of
the report to Dr. Hodgson, and ( d ) it seems hard to credit that an
occurrence should not have become public before valueless.
XII. Read by S. T. Pickard, editor of the Portland Transcript.
at a lecture, and reported in that paper, April 3, 1889. Original
manuscript by Mrs. Caroline Dana Howe, of the same city.
“ When I was but a child, a very singular thing occurred in our
family, which, in recalling, seems as vivid to me as if it happened but
yesterday. One half of the house in which we lived, nqt far from
the Boston and Maine depot, being left vacant, was immediately en-
gaged by a man named Horace Skillings, one of the employes of the
road, who was to move in next day. Before daylight, on the morn-
ing he was to move in, my mother was awakened by my father’s
rising from bed. He seemed unwilling to say much when asked if he
was sick, but my mother insisted upon knowing why he rose at that
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 175
unusual hour. ' 1 have had a fearful dream,’ he said, ‘ and cannot
shake off the impression he has made.* * Dreamt that I went down
to the depot and saw Horace Skillings literally crushed to pieces. I
never had so terrible a dream in all my life, and I wish I could drive
away the vision of that mangled, bleeding body. It is as real as
if I saw him there with my waking senses.’ So he went to his store
on York St., near State, and opposite the hill looking down to the
depot named. As he was unlocking the store door he involuntarily
turned and looked down the hill.
“ A train had just come in. He saw an unusual crowd gathered
there. He went down trembling, and there lay Mr. Skillings exactly
as he had seen him in his dream, mangled, bleeding, dead. Child as
I was, this impressed me fearfully from the first, and in later years
scarcely less, as I heard it repeated by them often. I never ceased,
or can cease, to wonder over the fulfillment of that morning’s fearful
dream. By what sense did that awful calamity reach him, my
father, in his sleep? But there are those still living who can bear
witness to its occurrence.”
It is not necessary to reiterate the disadvantages under which
a narrative like this labors, mostly because of the long lapse of
time before it came to notice.
XIII. Told by S. T. Pickard, editor of Portland (Me.) Tran-
script, in a lecture, and published in that paper, March 29, 1889. Mr.
Pickard was a brother of Professor Pickard of the University of
Illinois. The story was originally told by Judge Goddard before the
club to which Mr. Pickard’s paper was first read, a few months
earlier. At the time of the newspaper publication Judge Goddard
was already dead.
" The lecturer told of some remarkable instances of dreams com-
ing true, that had occurred under his immediate observation. He
said that his older brother, the late Col. Goddard, led a life full of
adventure, and was occasionally placed in situations of great danger.
On all such occasions no matter how distant from home was her old-
est son, Mrs. Goddard, who was not given to dreaming about any
other member of the family, was warned in her sleep of the danger
into which he had fallen. She was even able to announce the exact
nature of the trouble. One morning at breakfast table, she told a very
176 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
singular dream. She saw John struggling in the water, and horses
were striking at him with their forefeet, endeavoring to keep him
under the water. As it was in winter and John was in the woods of
northern New Brunswick, the family thought that for once Mrs.
Goddard’s dreaming must be at fault. After many days, a letter came
from John, who said he had a very narrow escape from death at a
time corresponding with that of the dream. He was driving a team
of spirited horses across a frozen lake or river. The horses broke
through the ice. In his efforts to extricate them he fell in, directly
in front of them. For a long time he was kept from getting out upon
the solid ice by the strokes of their frantic forefeet. Here was the
scene of the dream in some of its minute details.”
Dr. Hodgson wrote to Mr. Pickard, and received the follow-
ing reply :
“ Judge Goddard, who told me the story of his brother, and the
dream of his mother, died only a week or so before I read the paper
before the M. C. M. A. No one of the family is now living, and I
fear that the account cannot be traced back to first hand.
“ But it happens that the judge was a man of a thousand in the
matter of memory, and in careful accuracy of statement. No one
who knew him would doubt the exactness of any report he made of
what he had seen or heard. Unfortunately, I delayed getting his story
in writing from him as I intended to do, and in the meantime his
mortal illness came on. When he told the story (it was in a literary
club where I had used the paper) about 30 of the leading citizens of
Portland were present, lawyers, clergymen and others, whose names
are known all over the country. Any of them could testify to it.
John G. Whittier gave me the volumes I reviewed [Myers’s “ Human
Personality,” which was the main subject of Mr. Pickard’s lecture.]
S. T. Pickard."
This is so good an incident that it is very regrettable that it
does not come from the pen of the Judge himself, though per-
fectly understandable that it was not written down by him, since
even today the majority of even the intellectuals fail to record
such experiences, at least spontaneously. It is also a pity that
some other members of the club referred to were not asked to
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 177
sign a statement that they heard the story told by the Judge.
Yet we can hardly doubt that the Judge actually told the story,
for, though editors are not invariably scrupulous about their as-
sertions, yet editor Pickard would hardly have declared in a
public lecture and newspaper that Judge Goddard told the story
but a few months before, at a particular meeting of a certain
club, unless he had been prepared to meet doubt of the facts.
XIV. Reported by Dr. E. M. P., Gerard, Pa., April 6, 1888.
One Daggett, who is “ queer,” but the reporter thinks reliable,
says he dreamed that a Mr. Stone was killed by a train, and told
him the dream, about a week before the latter was so killed.
But a son of the dead man, on being questioned, reported to Dr.
Hodgson that he never heard the story until after his father’s death.
Therefore the story may have been only the romancing of a
“ queer ” man.
XV. Reported by Charles P. Putnam, 63 Marlborough St.,
Boston, May 15, 1888, on behalf of a woman known to him who
would not permit her name to be sent.
“ When a woman grown I lost my sister, just before that time
my father had been taken from us. One morning I had a vivid
dream. I distinctly saw my father, with outstretched hands, and my
sister lying on the bed. She said, holding out her hands, * I’m com-
ing, father, I’m coming.' At that moment we were awakened by a
messenger who came to tell us of her confinement. I am not at all
superstitious, and thought no more of the dream, especially as there
was no cause for anxiety. Three weeks later she died suddenly.
“ I was in perfect health. I am never morbid and am not inclined
to brood."
XVI. Reported by M. E. A., Franklin (Mass.), June, 1887.
“On a Saturday morning in January, 1887, my niece, a girl of
fifteen, came to the breakfast table announcing that she had had
* such a queer dream * to the effect that a certain Mr. B., an elderly
gentleman of the town, had died and been brought to our house,
furnishing various descriptive details. Snow was falling heavily at
the time, and was followed by intense cold, but on Tuesday, P. M., a
178 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
weather-scorning visitor remarked casually that ‘ Mr. B. passed
away very suddenly at the last,’ to which we responded that we had
not known of his illness. ‘ Oh yes, he has been failing for some two
weeks, and died early on Saturday morning,’ was the rejoiner, which
may have been the precise time of the dream, since the exact moment
of dreams is hard to determine, although (some) breakfast hours
are certainly not early.’ ”
Further inquiry should have been made to test whether it was
not possible that the girl subconsciously heard it remarked that
the old gentleman was ailing. The close coincidence in point of
time is to be noted, but, on the other hand, so is the fact that the
detail of the body being brought to the residence of the girl was
apparently not fulfilled, nor is it likely that the “ various de-
scriptive details ” were, since they are not stated. The case is
incomplete.
XVII. Reported by Miss M. H. T., Brookline, Mass., March 1,
1888.
While absent from home for a few days she dreamed that her
grandfather was dead. A few days later a letter came from her
mother saying that he was taken sick the night of Friday, Sept. 2,
and she went home the next day. He did not die, but was ill for a
long time. The dream proved to have been on the same night, at
least that is what she thought at the same time, and she is now sure
that it was not more than one night out of the way. The grand-
father was eighty-five, and had been very healthy and vigorous.
The value of the coincidence is lowered by the fact that the
subject of it was so old that thoughts of his death would be easy
to rouse, and by the fact that it was not complete, since he did
not die. One question which should have been asked is whether
the old man feared or expected death at the time he was taken ill.
XVIII. Reported by H. W„ Boston, May 22, 1888.
About a year previous to date, he dreamed that his aunt DeWolf
was dead. She was then in the best of health, and there was no
known reason for the dream. He told at breakfast table the next
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 179
morning, as a signed statement by his father corroborates. The
aunt died quite suddenly within a month.
A month is too long an interval to furnish an impressive
coincidence.
Dreams Not Coinciding With TnE Facts.
I. Reported by Philip S. A., Stoughton Hall, Cambridge, Mass,
(apparently a student in Harvard College), Feb. 25, 1888.
Dreams once or twice a year of some relative or friend being
dead. The dreams are more or less vivid, but fade out very quickly
after he wakes, and have no depressing effect. Had a vivid dream
that his little brother was dead; this brother was delicate and had
caused him anxiety lest he should not live. There was never any
relevant sequel.
II. Reported by Wm. W. A., 26 S., Yale University, May 26,
1888.
Within the period of a week, he had two dreams implying the
death of a male friend who was well, so far as he knows, and of
whom he had not heard for two months. In the first dream a letter
announced the death of this friend, in the second his funeral took
place. The second dream left so strong an impression that the nar-
rator wrote to his friend, who until the time of reporting, two
months, continues well.
III. Reported by Miss E. M. A., Deerfield, Mass., May 13, 1888.
A number of times she has dreamed of the death of some mem-
ber of the family (not always the same) as dying because of her
fault. There has been no correspondent reality.
Such a dream would be explained by self-reproach for the
(probably imaginary) neglect of duty toward relatives, or to re-
pressed reverie respecting the freedom from annoyance or restraint
which would result were certain persons not at hand.
IV. Reported by Mrs. J. H. B.
When about 12 years old she dreamed that she saw a tombstone
with her name and date of death, the date being the day following
the dream. She felt no subsequent fear, but intense curiosity, and
at the end of a week concluded that " there was a mistake some-
where.”
V. Geo. S. B„ Yale College, Jan. 31, 1889.
In 1888, while in good health, he dreamed that a girl friend was
in her coffin. The dream made a strong impression and he was re-
lieved when he saw her on the street. He could not trace the dream
180 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
to anything, nor did he ascertain whether the girl had any special
experience that day.
Had he been skilful in analyzing and tracing the elements of
dreams he might very probably have found them in the experiences
of the day before, woven together by some subtle association of ideas.
VI. Miss E. P. B., Plymouth, N. H.
About five years before, she dreamed that owing to her care-
lessness her mother underwent an accident from which she died.
She was herself in good health, and had no reason to worry about
her mother. The dream troubled her the greater part of the next
day.
Very likely this was a dramatized reaction from self-reproach.
VII. Mrs. H. H. B., Pittsfield, Mass., Aug. 2, 1888.
She dreamed of rushing trains, frightened horses, and her little
boy being brought in dead, and was powerfully affected for a day.
Health gone.
A reaction of worry lest some accident should befall the boy?
VIII. H. A. Bayne, New Haven, Ct., Jan., 1889.
He dreamed that he saw his brother groaning in bed, with the
sheets bloody, and the family and a doctor (who had been dead six
years) about him. It was a very unpleasant dream, and happened
about 6 weeks ago when the narrator was in good health, and he
cannot trace it to any causes. Nothing has happened to his brother.
But a later letter is illuminating. He remembered that about 13
years ago his brother broke three fingers and that the resulting
scene (except that in the dream he seemed to be dying, and one
person appeared who was not originally present) was almost ex-
actly the same as in the dream, including the same doctor. He had
frequently related the incident.
The dream may have been started by something seen, heard or
read during the day, perhaps a bloody tragedy the report of which
he had only glanced at in the paper, but which started an emotional
current similar to that experienced at the time of the accident to his
brother. The scene of his brother’s calamity consequently came into
his dreaming fantasy, altered by being blended with details of which
he became cognizant during the previous day, even though the latter
made so little conscious impression as to be forgotten.
IX. Lewis S. B„ 1142 Chapel St., New Haven, May 27, 1888.
About a week ago he dreamed of seeing a college friend’s father
hanging from a lamp-post. The dream was vivid but not specially
distressing.
Were the facts surrounding B.’s relation to the family known,
the dream might not be difficult to account for. For example, if he
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 181
looked with favor upon his friend’s sister, and was regarded with
disfavor by her father, it might not be an unsatisfactory solution of
the resulting problem to his dreaming self (since the dreaming self
is often childlike, that is to say primitive, not to say barbarian, in its
reactions), to have the father safely attached to the post.
X. Mr. H. M. B., Brookline, Mass., Oct. 18, 1888.
The previous winter he dreamed that the mother of one of his
friends was dead. The dream was vivid, and impressed him for a
day or two. No known reason, and he does not think that anything
ailed the mother, who continues on this planet.
XI. Wm. J. A. B., student in Harvard University, Feb. 27, 1888.
Has had several unfulfilled dreams of the sort; the one best re-
membered being of the death of a sister regarding whom he had had
no cause for anxiety, except that he had not heard from her for
some time. He was a little anxious after the dream until he heard
from his sister.
XII. Frank Bolles, Cambridge, Oct. 24, 1888.
At the age of about 12 or 14 (he is now 32) he had a very vivid
dream of seeing his mother dragged by the machinery of a mill and
killed, and he woke sobbing. His mother still lives, in health.
XIII. Mrs. C. H. Brown reported that her step-mother long
ago dreamed that some one said, “ Mr. Brown is dead,” but he still
lives.
XIV. Mrs. C. H. Brown reported that her husband’s sister-in-
law, Mrs. F. B. about three weeks ago dreamed of receiving a note
from another relative saying that the reporter had written that her
own husband, Mr. J. H. B. could not live through the day.
XV. Mrs. J. H. B.’s maid, A. C. recently dreamed that her
mother stood before her and said “ Alice.” The maid thought this
indicated death or trouble, but nothing happened.
It was a mere superstition to suppose that anything calamitous
would happen, even on the most liberal theory of the significance of
dreams.
XVI. Mrs. J. F. B., 19 Mechanic St., Fitchburg, Mass., 1888.
About 8 years earlier she dreamed that a brother whom she had
not seen for two years, and who was on a Western sheep-ranch, was
tossed by a bull. She was astonished to find that nothing had hap-
pened to him. The horror of the dream still persists.
XVII. Mrs. G. B. Boutelle, an acquaintance of Mrs. J. H.
Brown, 1888.
Dreamed of seeing her brother in a coffin, and has dreamed of
seeing other persons of her acquaintance “ laid out.”
182 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
XVIII. Mrs. Mary F. Carew, New Haven, June 20, 1888.
[See No. II of “ Dreams more or less Coinciding.’’]
Has had several non-coincident dreams of death but none so
painful as the coincidental dream about her grandfather.
XIX. Mrs. J. H. Brown reports in 1888 that Mrs. C., an ac-
quaintance, has dreamed at different times of going to funerals of
her friends or of seeing them laid out, without any coincidence, ex-
cept that in one case the person, an aunt, died some months later.
XX. H. H. D., a student in Harvard, March 11, 1888.
When in good health he had a thrilling dream of a railway acci-
dent in which a certain friend was killed and his head cut off.
Nothing of the kind has happened, but five members of his family
have died during the three succeeding years.
It would be fanciful indeed to suppose that a dream of a man’s
being killed and mutilated had reference to the natural deaths of his
relatives during the few years following.
XXI. Mrs. A. D., 3 Berkeley St., Cambridge, Mass., April 30.
1888.
About six months earlier she had a very vivid dream of her
son’s death, and for several days could hardly persuade herself that
he was not dead, unless he was present. He was in good health and
so continued.
XXII. Mrs. J. H. Brown of Fitchburg reported, 1888, that
Mrs. Geo. D. dreamed that a horse ran away with her little girl,
and that then a child’s coffin was brought to her The dream troubled
her much, but no harm came to the child.
XXIII. Mrs. G. E., 12 Otis Place, Boston, May 20, 1888.
She had a very graphic, vivid and lengthy dream to the effect
that the Rev. Mr. Brooks had died, the only dream that she re-
members being able vividly to recall.
A week or two before this, Mr. Brooks had returned from
Europe looking poorly, and she heard that he had been quite ill.
Concern for the health of her pastor may have started this lady’s
dream.
XXIV. E. S. Farrington, student in Yale College, May 13, 1888.
Had a very vivid dream of his mother’s death, which troubled
him after waking. She had been an invalid for years, but he cannot
recollect that he was especially troubled about her directly before
the dream. She is in her average health, a year later.
Apparently he was not able to assert positively that there had
not been some special anxiety about the mother before the dream.
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death, 183
XXV. Miss C. F., Brookline, Mass., May 9, 1888.
In February dreamed that she found her sister lying dead in a
field, having been gored by a bull. It was “ distressingly vivid,” and
the impression lasted for some time.
XXVI. Maggie F., Keachie, La., Dec. 8, 1887.
A year previously she dreamed of seeing herself stretched out
dead and her friends looking at her and weeping. The dream was
“ exceptionally vivid and seemingly real.” A week later it was re-
peated. She was and continued to be in good health.
XXVII. Robert S. H., Bar Harbor, Me., Feb. 28, 1888.
When a boy he used to play a great deal on the railroad tracks,
and often dreamed of being chased by trains. Once he dreamed that
first his mother, then he himself, were run over by a train. It did
not leave an unpleasant impression.
The dreams were likely to occur, especially if his mother often
chided him for playing on the tracks.
XXVIII. Mrs. C. H., W. Medford, Mass., Feb. 28, 1888.
About two months earlier she dreamed that a person, of whom
she had no reason to be thinking, was dead. The person continued
to live.
XXIX. Bert H., Great Falls, N. Y.. Aug. 27, 1888.
Last winter he dreamed that his mother, who was in good health,
had died. The impression remained until he had a letter from her.
XXX. Judge W. D. H., Savannah, Ga„ 1888.
Some 12 years before, he dreamed that he saw his wife drowned,
despite his efforts to save her. “ The dream has some singular
points, but not of the character sought.”
XXXI. Alice G. H., Wakefield, 1888.
Dreamed of attending the funeral of a person then and now well.
XXXII. John H„ Medford, Mass., 1888.
In 1879 he dreamed that a strange monster showed him the
corpses of eleven of his relatives. The dream came at the begin-
ning of a sickness of several days.
XXXIII. Wm. H., 1332 Bergen St., Brooklyn. April 23, 1888.
In 1886 he dreamed that he saw his old commander, Gen. Slocum,
in his coffin, and that his nose was swollen with some malady. The
next morning he looked to see the flag at half-mast, and met the
General a few days later, in good health. He will inquire if any-
thing had ailed his nose.
No subsequent report appearing, it is to be presumed that nothing
had gone wrong with the Slocum nose.
184 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
XXXIV. Mr. H. B. H., Feb. 2S, 1889.
Is now 18 years old. When under 10 he often dreamed of being
devoured by beasts, usually like those of his story-books, some of
them with jackets and trousers on. They had the power of entering
locked rooms. He did not much mind being devoured, and thinks
that his mother’s assurances that " such things were only dreams ”
were remembered by him.
The origin of the dreams is evident, and probably, as the nar-
rator conjectures, there entered a sense of unreality which robbed
the dreams of terror. It was as if acting out something really read.
XXXV. Carlton H., 7 Perrin St., Roxbury, Mass., Sept. 2, 1888.
About 10 years earlier, when the narrator was about 12 years
old. he dreamed that his sister was dragged off by men and had
?>ison forced down her throat, and of her being in death struggles,
he dream was very painful and made him sad several days after.
We cannot tell what actually did cause this dream, but can tell
what might have caused it. If, even months previously, he read of
some terrible assault committed upon a girl, which shocked him
profoundly, and if on the day of the dream some men passed and
seemed to him to look significantly at his sister, this would be
enough to arouse subconscious memories of what he had read and,
when night came, to set the imagery of the dream in motion, the
same being modified by the actual details of the day, or by other
kindred memories.
XXXVI. Mrs. G. A. J., 8 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Aug. 8, 1888.
Her husband had a dream that Mr. Gladstone was dead, so im-
pressive that he looked for a notice of the death in the papers. But
Gladstone lived on.
XXXVII. Mrs. W. K., a neighbor of Mrs. J. H. Brown, of
Fitchburg, Mass., who reported the dream in 1888.
Mrs. K.'s sister when about 10 years old, at a time when some of
her friends had just died of scarlet fever, dreamed of seeing a hor-
rible looking old woman with a coffin strapped to her back, peering
about as if looking for some one, and when she reached the girl
pointing over her shoulder and saying, “ This is for you.” It was
a year before she got over the dream.
Of course we cannot tell what suggested the old woman (it may
have been some printed and illustrated fable for children, of a type
happily more common formerly than now), but the dream was
obviously the reflex of the girl’s fear that she might take the fever
and die.
XXXVIII. Mr. F. B. K., Duxbury, Mass., July 21, 1888.
When a boy he dreamed that his father was dead and that his
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 185
mother took him to see his tombstone. His father was then a
soldier serving in the Civil War.
He also at one time dreamed that his sister was dead. Both are
living.
XXXIX. Sarah E. LeM., Marblehead, Mass., May 27, 1888.
While in good health and spirits she dreamed that a member of
the family was dead ; woke terrified and could not shake off the
impression for several days.
XXXL. Sidney L., Duxbury, Mass., May 10, 1888.
About four years ago he dreamed that his grandmother was
dead, but thought little of it, and in fact she did not die until a year
or two later.
XLI. Miss A. L., Beverly Farms, Mass., Oct. 27, 1888.
She dreamed of seeing a friend in a coffin, and a few nights
later dreamed of receiving a telegram announcing her death. The
disagreeable impression lasted for days. Nothing ailed the friend
then or afterwards, but she was extremely ill about a year earlier.
XLII. Dr. J. H. McC., Feb. 1, 1888.
Having no reason to be anxious about his brother he dreamed
that he saw him dead in his coffin, and was needlessly disturbed after-
ward, for three months have quietly passed.
XLIII. Mrs. J. H. Brown of Fitchburg reports in 1888 that
Susie Morris, an Irish girl of her acquaintance, last week dreamed
on three successive nights that her mother was dead. Once before
she dreamed that her mother was in purgatory. The mother is well.
It is likely that these were dreams of self-reproach.
XLIV. Wm. M., student at Yale, New Haven, Feb. 9, 1889.
Three weeks before writing he dreamed of finding one of his
classmates on the floor of his room, dead. No reason known to him
and no sequel.
XLV. Miss E. A. Murphy, 139 Boylston St., Boston, May 10,
1888.
March 15th preceding she dreamed of seeing a nephew with a
stranger, who suddenly drew a pistol and shot her nephew dead.
The dream was vivid, and she told her mother to put down the date,
but nothing resembling happened.
A year ago she dreamed that her sister was dead, and the im-
pression was strong enough to cause her to go the next day to
ascertain if the sister was well, as she proved to be.
XLVI. Mr. J. F. N. He had a long dream of seeing his little
brother killed by a locomotive in spite of his own efforts to save the
186 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
child. The impressions from the dream would recur for a day or
two. No sequel.
XLVII. Miss E. K. N., Wakefield, Mass., May 9, 1888.
About two years before, she had a startling dream of the violent
death of a brother, which left a distinct impression. She was in
good health, not anxious about him and nothing happened.
XLVIII. Dr. H. O. P„ Boston, 1888.
About a year ago he had so vivid a dream of his little girl’s
death that he telegraphed and learned that all the family were well.
XLIX. Wm. P., student at Yale, New Haven, June 8, 1888.
In good health he dreamed that a sister was dead. The dream
properly made no impression.
Again he dreamed of being in a foreign country and being fatally
wounded by an arrow, and of making a farewell speech.
The dream was dramatic, but not very unusual.
L. Mrs. J. M., Mrs. J. H. Brown, of Fitchburg reports, says
that she often dreams of relatives and friends dying under distress-
ing circumstances, without correspondence of fact. She has learned
not to worry about such dreams.
LI. T. W. R., student in Harvard University, Feb. 18, 1888.
A year previously he dreamed very vividly of his sister’s death
and burial, so that he very nearly telegraphed to satisfy himself that
it was not true.
When a child of 11 (narrator being now 20) he spent a winter
in London. “ I had been studying English history and had recently
visited the tower, when one night I had the following dream : I was
the favorite knight of Edward III and the Black Prince, and all
through the turmoil of the battle of Cressy had stood by their side.
Just as the tide turned and victory for the English seemed at hand,
a Frenchman thrust with his spear at my beloved prince, and I re-
ceived the blow full on my chest. The king and prince carried me
off the field, and with their thankful faces before my dimming eyes
and their praises of my conduct in my ears, I slowly lost conscious-
ness. Now comes the curious part of the dream. As I slowly lost
consciousness I seemed to become two people, one dying on the little
hill and the other a silent and invisible spectator of the scene ; and
as one personality faded the other became more intense. Some time
after my last breath was drawn, and the weeping king had closed my
eyes, what was left of me slowly awoke.”
LII. A. W. R., Harvard student, Feb. 28, 1888.
Some months earlier he dreamed that a classmate whom he knew
but slightly was dead, and afterwards remembered the dream as
reality until he met the student in good health.
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 187
LIII. Mrs. W. T. S., 95 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Feb. 19, 1888.
Sept. 9, 1887, she had a very graphic and distressing dream about
an acquaintance whom she had not seen for 18 months. The latter
appeared to be distracted on account of the death of a daughter,
whereas there had been no death in the family except that of a pet
salamander, which occurred not far from the time of the dream.
It is doubtful if anyone would wish to press the coincidence.
The name of the child, Aurora, and its pet name, Joy, would have
set Freud agog with expectation of fruitful analysis.
LIV. Mr. P. T. S., Yale student, New Haven, May 21, 1888.
The night of Dec. 10, 1887, he dreamed of being at his mother’s
deathbed, so vividly that his sleep was destroyed for the rest of the
night. He did not believe that it was true, yet it was so realistic that
his spirits were dampened for several days. His mother had been
ill, and the fact known to him. She was well after this.
LV. Miss H. S., an acquaintance of Mrs. J. H. Brown, 1888.
Before her father’s death she dreamed of combing lice from her
head, and the dream was repeated until “ she felt sure it meant
something ! ”
Of course this is too ridiculous for anything but an exclamation
point.
LVI. Miss K. H. S., West Medford. Mass., May 21, 1888.
When a child, 20 years ago, she dreamed that her uncle with
whom she lived was dead. The body was not in a casket but in an
urn [from talk about cremation, most likely]. She woke much dis-
tressed, and the impression still abides. The uncle is living. She was
in good health at the time.
LVII. Mr. F. W. T„ Cambridge, Mass., May 10, 1888.
Two years ago he dreamed that his father was dead, so im-
pressively that his mind dwelt upon it the next day. He seldom has
vivid dreams like this. The father still lives.
LVIII. John K. T., Yale student, New Haven, Feb. 25, 1889.
He had a dream about six weeks previously, in which he thinks
that some near relative murdered some one.
About the same time — perhaps the same night — he had a ter-
rible dream involving the death of his sister.
LIX. S. H. T., 22 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass., July 15, 1888.
He sometimes dreams that he is being run over by a locomotive,
but knows at the time that it is a dream. Once when a small boy,
however, he had a dream he escaped but two friends were run over.
Neither died until several years afterward.
188 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
LX. T. C. T., a Yale student, Feb. 25, 1889.
About three years before, be dreamed of seeing his grandmother
lying on the bed with her throat cut. He was so affected that he
rose and went down-stairs that he might look at her and be sure
that she was all right. He did not get over the effects of the dream
for several days, nor could he trace it to any cause.
LXI. Miss Emma C. T., Buzzards Bay, Mass., April 6, 1888.
Some time ago she dreamed that she met her father in the Public
Garden taken with a violent pain in his side, and that she supported
him until his “ breath passed away.” The dream haunted her the
next day.
Her father was suffering at the time from pleurisy and a cough,
and when he coughed it pained his side. Therefore the sources of
the dream are evident.
LXII. Miss H. C. W„ Jamaica Plain, Mass., May 23, 1888.
Five years ago she had a vivid dream of her mother’s death, and
five weeks ago a less vivid one. The mother was not ill, and no cause
for the dream appeared.
LXIII. Philip P. W., 1633 First St., Louisville, Ky., July 25,
1888.
A year or two ago he dreamed of the death of a friend, so vividly
that he nearly telegraphed to leam the facts. The friend was well.
LXIV. Mr. N. C. W„ 29 High St., New Haven, Ct., Feb. 6,
1889.
Two months earlier he had a distinct dream of his brother’s
death, and the effect lasted an hour after he rose. No reason for the
dream then or thereafter.
LXV. Miss Clara A. W., Friends’ School, Providence, R. I.,
May 5, 1888.
She vividly dreamed of the funeral of a sister, and the impression
troubled her all day. She was “ not specially anxious about her at
the time,” and did not leam that anything untoward happened.
LXVI. F. T. W„ Yale student, New Haven, Feb. 25, 1889.
A week ago he dreamed that his father was in his coffin, and
later that he was alive again. He had been reading about battles
and deaths.
LXVI1. J. Walter W., Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 18, 1888.
Is subject to dreaming of the deaths of members of his family,
when they are in good health. At times has awakened with tears in
his eyes, and has been anxious until reassured by news from home.
Dreams Seeming, or Interpreted, to Indicate Death. 189
LXVIII. Mrs. L. C. B., Somerville, Mass., May 14, 1888.
She had a detailed dream about a certain gentleman being shot,
and dying covered with blood. This was in November. One of the
ladies figuring in the dream wrote her that in the following Feb-
ruary this gentleman was ill with erysipelas, and his face was swollen
beyond recognition.
The event was too remote in time and species to be regarded a
coincidence.
LXIX. Miss M. Gaily, Boston, May 14, 1888.
Had a dramatic dream of being shown the body of a friend in a
coffin by his wife. It was vivid and remained with her for days.
She had no reason to be anxious about him, then or afterwards.
As to the relation of coincident to non-coincident dreams, and
such other discussion as might fitly end this summary, the reader
is referred to portions of an article entitled “ Analysis of the
Results of an Old Questionnaire,” to be found in the issue of
this Journal for April, 1921.
)OvJI
190 Journal of the /Imeriean Society for Psychical Research.
“ SCIENCE ” AND A BOOK-TEST.
By E. J. Dingwall.
Science has discovered the book-tests! It is true that they
were given in the days of Stainton Moses, but then the great
scientist who has now discovered them, being a chemist, may not
have heard of Stainton Moses. If the reader will turn to the
issue of Discovery for June, 1921, he will find that the then
Editor, Alexander Smith Russell, M.C., M.A., D.Sc., Dr. Lee’s
Reader in Chemistry of Christ Church, Oxford, has been reading
the Psychic Research Quarterly for the preceding April and in
particular the account of the book and newspaper tests by the
Rev. C. Drayton Thomas. He thought it all rather wonderful at
first but later was not so convinced. He says, “ There seems to
be no reason to look for any abnormal explanation for these phe-
nomena. Gullibility, chance, coincidence, and occasional good
guess, the ability of a certain type of mind to put two and two
together and make it (within limits) into any number, and a few
similar explanations, seem to me to account for them all.” He
then proceeds to discuss one instance given by Mr. Thomas. The
test said, in speaking of the issue of the London Times for the
next day that :
“ In column one and about a quarter down is your
father’s name given in connection with a place he knew
very well about twenty years ago.”
With reference to this test Mr. Thomas writes: “ Between a
quarter and half-way down is the name ‘ John ’ and one inch
above it is ‘ Birkdale.’ My father’s name was John, and * Birk-
dale ’ is the name of the house he bought when retiring from
active work and where he resided until his death” In comment-
ing upon the test Dr. Russell says that it is a typical example.
“ At first,” he writes, “ it struck me as so ingenuous that I sus-
pected the author of pulling my leg. But no. He is serious.
Come now, is there anything wonderful about the name John
(not Hieronimus or Jared or Septimus Eric, but John) appear-
" Science ” and a Book-T est.
191
ing in any column of The Times ? It would be more wonderful,
surely, if it failed to appear less than ten times. Again, there is
nothing wonderful in the apparent fulfilment of the prophecy
concerning Birkdale. Notice, Birkdale is not mentioned specifi-
cally by the medium. It is merely a particular example of a
general category, places which a man knew twenty years ago.
Now, in 1901 I was only a small boy, but the number of places
I knew ‘ very well ’ then was anything from a hundred to a
thousand, depending upon what is meant by a place. The
probability that the name of one of these should appear in a
column of The Times is a very great one. These book-tests,
indeed, are rubbish. There is absolutely * nothing in them.’ Mr.
Drayton Thomas does not appear to understand coincidence and
correlation.”
Now all this is very interesting but I am not at all sure
whether it is not Dr. Russell who fails to understand and not Mr.
Thomas. I was also fairly young twenty years ago and I also
knew a number of “ places ” fairly well. For example I was
well acquainted with the house in which I lived, my bed, the
bathroom, the garden and similar “ places.” But in the test given
it is quite clear to any intelligent person what the word “ place ”
means. It quite obfoously does not mean Mr. Thomas’s bed or
where he stood when shaving, if he did shave. It might mean a
village where he was living or the name of his house or perhaps
a small town if he had lived in it for a long time and knew it
“ very well.” Thus I cannot be said to know New York or Lon-
don or Paris “ very well,” although it might be said that I know
East Twenty-Third Street at Fourth Avenue very well or the
Hampstead Garden Suburb very well or the Rue Royale very
well. On the other hand I think it might be said that I knew the
High Street of the London suburb where I used to live very well
although not the suburb itself. Therefore it would seem that the
term “ place he knew very well ” can be narrowed down to a
locality, probably referring to a residential or office address or
possibly to some small village or town which the person referred
to either lived in or had intimate associations with. Now Dr.
Russell’s first question is whether there is anything wonderful in
the name John appearing in any column of The Times. No,
doctor, there is nothing wonderful about it. The next point is
192 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
that he thinks it would be more wonderful if it failed to appear
less than ten times. Then I am afraid he will have to wonder as
will be seen later. As it happens my name is also John so I set
myself a little experiment which is sometimes useful in science
and often more satisfactory than assumptions proceeding from
sheltered cloisters. I said to myself : “ In a copy of The Times
ANYWHERE in the first column you will find your name and
near it a place you knew very well twenty years ago.” So I went
off to a library and got out a volume of The Times for part of
1921 and started off at the first issue I came to deciding to go
through fourteen consecutive issues on the same quest. I looked
down the first column as carefully as I could although I cannot
guarantee that I did not miss one or two Johns during my search.
Here is the result of my inquiry:
1. John mentioned twice. Noplace.
2. John mentioned three times. \l/i ins. from one entry is
the name of the London suburb where I used to live but
did not know “ very well.”
3. John mentioned thrice. No place.
4. John mentioned four times. No place.
5. John mentioned once. 3 ins. above is the name of a town
I knew fairly well.
6. John mentioned twice. No place.
7. John mentioned twice. No place.
8. John mentioned four times. No place.
9. John mentioned four times. In the next entry to one of
those containing the name John occurs the name of the
suburb before mentioned. In another entry occurs the
name of a village I knew fairly well and in another the
name of a house in which I never lived but which
possessed a certain fascination for me. If this test had
been given me and if the entry containing the name of
the house had been identified from the direction given in
the test I should have called it a fairly good test although
not so good as Mr. Thomas's.
10. John mentioned five times. In one entry occurs the name
of the same village before mentioned.
11. John mentioned three times. In one entry the name of
the London suburb again occurs.
" Science ” and a Book-T est.
193
12. John mentioned six times. No place.
13. John mentioned five times. No place.
14. John mentioned three times. No place.
Now the result of the experiment shows that the name John
does not occur ten times every day even in the column of The
Times containing the lists of Births, Marriages and Deaths,
whereas Dr. Russell thinks it would be wonderful if it failed to
appear less than ten times in any column of The Times, an as-
sumption now shown to be sufficiently ridiculous. To suit his pur-
* poses the doctor wants it to appear ten times so that is reason
enough for supposing that it does so. This argument is exceed-
ingly common amongst “ scientists ” when trying to deal with the
uncomfortable facts ruthlessly brought to light by psychical re-
searchers. A second interesting fact which emerges from a con-
sideration of my very vague book test is the following: It will be
remembered that in Mr. Thomas’s test the “ communicator ” said
that the test would be found about a quarter down and in my test
the whole column was given as the place. Yet even with this wide
latitude only one example could be called a good test and this did
not give anything beyond the name of a house which happened to
have certain associations. The chances of hitting upon that issue
when I had selected fourteen specimen consecutive issues was of
course 1 in 14. Now in Mr. Thomas's case the name John occurs
and an inch above it is the actual name of his father’s house and
not at all a common name at that. This certainly was a place he
knew very well, far better indeed than the house in my test of
which the outside at the front was alone well known to me. Yet
this test of Mr. Thomas is, according to the learned doctor from
Oxford, mere rubbish and there is absolutely nothing in it.
But even if Dr. Russell has found nothing in the book-tests
described by Mr. Thomas I have found a great deal in Dr. Rus-
sell’s remarks which make for comment. In another issue of
Discovery I find amongst the editorial notes mention of the book
Spiritualism and the Nerv Psychology, by Millais Culpin, which
he calls “ a very able book.” As this production has received a
severe trouncing in every quarter where knowledge of the subject
matter was to be expected it is a pity that Dr. Russell should have
stated in so many words that his knowledge was such that he
194 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
considers this worthless collection of observations as “ very able.”
But then it is fashionable to consider psychics a playing ground
for all and everybody whilst physics can only be dealt with by the
select few, and I am sure Dr. Russell would be the first to rise and
slay me were I to have the temerity to write and criticize the in-
vestigations of others into the nature of the colloids. Dr. Russell
has done more, however, to make himself a noteworthy figure
In some of the editorial notes he speaks of “ spiritualistic ” mani-
festations and he explains them! Listen to the words of science
and bow your heads as you receive the message which proceeds
from so ancient a University as Oxford, England. “ These mani-
festations,” he says, " can be explained by natural causes, known
or unknown, and by the ‘ human touch ’ (which in many cases is
imposture).” All is now clear. The phenomena are explained
by unknown causes and by the human touch ! Or is it the humor-
ous touch? At all events “ that’s that and now we know,” as the
English say.
>0*1
A Little Lesson in Reporting.
195
A LITTLE LESSON IN REPORTING.
By James H. Hyslop.
The following three letters are taken from the files of Dr.
Hodgson. They were all sent to him in the same envelope, by
Dr. Hyslop. — Editor.
New York, Feb. 26th, 1905.
My Dear Dr. Hodgson :
I met a Mr. Kellogg [this was “Professor” James L. Kel-
logg. who had recently given an admittedly trick exhibition of
“ mind-reading, slate writing, etc.," before the Medico-Legal
Society] at my cousin’s tonight, and he offered to try a medium-
istic experiment and gave me a good chance to conceal what I
did. I was to write on a piece of paper the name of a deceased
acquaintance and the title of a popular air. He turned his back,
and in order to prevent any side view from his eyes I moved
behind him so that he could not see me and wrote the name
“ Jesse Boots ” and the words “ Yankee Doodle.” I then folded
the paper and put it in my pocket without his seeing what I had
done. I did not remove it from my pocket and he promised to
tell me any time I wanted it, a month later if I like. I locked
the pellet up when I came home.
Yours truly,
James H. Hyslop.
P. S. — Mr. Kellogg sends me the enclosed letter, and it ex-
plains itself. J. H. H.
My Dear Professor :
Before I can take up the thread of “ dollar chasing ” where I
dropped it on Saturday night, I find I am compelled to put down
on this skyblue pink paper a melody that has been ringing in my
head since last I saw you, so here it is. [Here was inserted a
musical staff and the first four bars of Yankee Doodle.]
During the night, “ when all was still,” I was visited by a
spirit, but all he would say was “ I am Jesse, what do you want?”
Can you explain it ?
Y ours truly,
J. L. Kellogg.
229 Broadway, Monday, Feb. 28, 1905.
196 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
New York, Feb. 26th, 1905.
My Dear Dr. Hodgson :
The description I have given of Mr. Kellogg’s performance
was made purposely in the form above, as it was clear to me that
the important facts to be observed are usually left out of such
performances. I want the description to appear to represent a
case which is inexplicable as it stands. I have omitted in the
account the following facts: First, Mr. Kellogg is an ex-juggler
and does not believe in any '* supernatural ” phenomena. He
admits that all he does are tricks. Secondly, he furnished the
slip of paper on which I wrote the name and title of “ Yankee
Doodle,” and also the newspaper on which the slip rested when I
did the writing. He brought it with him. Thirdly, as soon as I
had placed the paper on which I wrote in my pocket Mr. Kellogg
left the room for a minute or two and returned. Nothing was
said. I refused at any time to let others see or know what I had
written. The explanation is thus easy. Either he traced the
marks of my pencil on the newspaper or he had an impressible
paper under the newspaper on which I wrote and went out to
take the sheet out in concealment. Without this description the
facts would be inexplicable.
Yours as ever,
James H. Hyslop.
>0171
Incidents.
19 7
INCIDENTS.
A RARE TYPE OF COLLECTIVE VISUAL HALLUCINATION.
The main narrator of the remarkable incident which follows
is known to the Editor. She is a lady of education, superior in-
telligence and standing. The other narrator, her foster-brother,
it appears is of irreproachable character. The delay in getting
him to commit his own story to paper in the very brief form
which it takes was due to the difficulty of overcoming his scruple
that it was too sacred to impart to the public.
The fact that Miss Osgood had the vision and told it two
months before Mr. Sewall’s experience was much known is cor-
roborated by her mother, as is also the fact that it was again
discussed the night before his arrival.
Fortunately, he had already told the date and at least nearly
coinciding hour of the submarine peril, and had proceeded so far
as “ That night I had the most wonderful experience of my life,”
before Miss Osgood broke in with her already corroborated story.
To measure how remarkable the compound incident was we
may suppose several possible situations, any of them noteworthy
enough to print, but coming short of what actually occurred.
1. Miss Osgood might have had an apparition of her brother
at his time of great peril.
2. She might have seen him at the hour of actual peril gaz-
ing fixedly at something to her unseen and afterward learned
that he had seen an apparition.
3. She might have seen him at the hour of peril and her
dead father standing near him, without any corresponding experi-
ence on his part.
4. She might have seen an apparition of her father at the
hour when her brother, being in peril, also saw the apparition.
5. What actually took place was that she saw the apparition
of her brother together with that of her father, at the hour when
the brother, in peril, saw the father’s apparition near him.
In order to avoid the spiritistic hypothesis we would have to
suppose that not only did Mr. Sewall, in a state of emotion, have
a pathological vision of his foster-father roused by the rather
198 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
incongruous sight of a submarine, but also that his emotion trans-
mitted over some 5,000 miles of sea and land not simply his own
image but also that of his pathological fancy. In other words, at
or about the same time, separated by 5,000 miles, he has a visual
hallucination, and she has another comprising not only an image
of his physical body but also an image of what was not physically
present, the replica of his hallucination. — Editor.
Document 1.
On June 25th, 1918, some time in the later part of the afternoon,
I was resting on my bed at home (17 Myrde Avenue, Plainfield,
N. J.) I had just finished reading “ Over There with the Aus-
tralians," and my mind naturally turned to our only representative
in the great struggle, my brother Osgood. As I thought of him and
longed for his safe return, I saw before me my brother and father.
The vision lasted some seconds and as I watched them each com-
pletely absorbed in the joy of being with the other I found myself
saying aloud:
" I'm here, I’m here, but you don't see me."
The two men seemed so blissfully happy that I was happy in
witnessing their joy. In seeing them my brother’s sailor suit made
an impression on me while what father had on made none.
Either that day or the next I told my mother of this experience.
Her natural fear was that Osgood had been killed and so joined
father, who had died some two years before. I did not feel that to
be the case but felt that more likely father had gone to Osgood
to help him in some great crisis. I told mother I felt so at the time,
but said that of course only time would tell which had happened.
It was not until late in August that any news came from Osgood.
Then we received a letter telling us that his ship was in Norfolk
and he would be home for a day soon. The night before he was
due as mother and I were talking of seeing Osgood I reminded of
her that it was the 25th of June that I had seen father and Osgood
together and I would have a chance to find out if it was the truth
or fiction of my own mind.
Shortly after breakfast Osgood arrived and as soon as my mar-
ried sister, Grace, learned of his arrival she also appeared upon the
scene. We were sitting on the porch, mother, Osgood, Grace, and I.
as Osgood told us of his life since we had last seen him. He had
Incidents.
199
I
been one of the armed guard on a little lake steamer used to carry
T. N. T. between Norfolk and our Naval base in Scotland. On one
trip over the steamer met a submarine. He was not on deck at the
time but heard the call and came up in time to see a boat of the
convoy go down and a submarine rise out of the water not far
away. As he reached this part of the story his face lighted up and
he said with great earnestness :
“ That night I had the most wonderful experience of my life.”
At once I guessed what it might be, so I asked on what day the
event occurred.
His answer was given without hesitation, “ The 25th of June at
half past nine at night, I shall never forget the day as long as I live.”
I knew it was not at night that I saw him with father so 1 asked
the difference in time between Plainfield and the coast of Scotland
and he gave it as about five hours and added,
“ It would have been about four-thirty here.”
“ And father came to you,” was my next remark.
He turned on me with u That is just what happened, but how on
earth did you know it Laura ? ”
" I was there but you did not see me,” was all I could say.
My sister to whom the whole thing was new could not believe it
possible that I could have known before but mother said it was per-
fectly true and that I had told her of it at the time and we had
spoken of it only the night before.
March 4, 1920 (Signed) Laura E. Osgood.
This is a true statement of the event.
(Signed) S. Eva Osgood,
Grace Osgood Haff.
Document 2.
Dec. 29, 1921.
Dear Dr. Prince:
On June 25, 1918, while on the U. S. S. Lake Ontario, carrying
depth mines to our Naval Base in Scotland, I had the experience for
the first time of seeing my foster father, who had died some two
years before. He came to me in a time of great excitement. When
I returned to my home I was much surprised to find that my foster
sister Laura E. Osgood had seen my whole experience.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) J. O. Sewale.
200 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
FURTHER ON “EXPERIENCES, CHIEFLY WITH MRS.
CHENOWETH."
By " William Bruce.”
The following letter, written December 28th, 1921, enclosing
corroborations, should be read in connection with the report in
the Journal of last November, at which time it was thought that
all the material to be furnished was in hand. — Editor.
After receipt of your letter of August 3rd, 1921, asking me to
secure if possible some corroborative statements concerning some of
the details of my letters, I have been endeavoring to do so and en-
close herewith statements from H E. W , Mrs. C A.
C , concerning the telepathy incident, and also Mr. C O.
A , referred to in the incident relating to Mr. Johns ; also a letter
from my sister Mrs. J G. C of Washington, D. C., con-
cerning the incident of my wife’s collar. In asking them for these
statements I have told them to use their own language and memory.
In some minor particulars they differ slightly from the statements
which I made soon after the incidents occurred. They are for your
files but if at any time it would seem wise to publish them, I would
ask the same privilege, not to use the correct names or addresses.
It might reflect back upon my clients whose confidences I am bound
to keep.
In regard to some of the questions which you have asked, I
would state as follows :
You asked whether Mrs. Chenoweth knew Mr. Johns. I know
that they knew each other well, belonging to the same spiritualistic
organization here, and I know from what he told me that he had
many interviews with her control “ Sunbeam,” and there is no doubt
that in those interviews he may have inquired about his business
affairs. It would be very like him to do so. In all my interviews
with “ Sunbeam,” concerning Mr. Johns’s affairs, I was very careful
not to speak to Mrs. Chenoweth of his affairs while she was not in
a trance, and in every instance relating to those affairs she went
into a trance in my presence and came out of it in my presence. I
took occasion once or twice, during the time to question Mrs. Cheno-
Incidents.
201
weth as to knowledge of Mr. Johns’s affairs and found that she knew
very little, practically nothing other than the names of his family.
I am absolutely convinced from questions put to Mrs. Chenoweth
after she had awakened from her trance that she possessed no
knowledge whatever as to anything which “ Sunbeam " had said.
It did not rise into her active mind. On the other hand, I know that
“ Sunbeam ” does retain, apparently from ordinary memory, names
and dates and personages and places which she had seen in previous
interviews. She exercises memory in this regard at times free and
clear and at other times vaguely, and several times I have noticed
that when her memory was vague, she apparently sensing this weak-
ness, would bring or reproduce before her mind the persons and
images which she desired.
Aside from several interviews in one year concerning Mr. Johns’s
affairs I have seen “ Sunbeam ” perhaps once a year on an average,
for twelve or thirteen years. I have seen Mrs. Chenoweth and her
husband on other occasions when she was not in a trance.
Replying to your inquiries as to the dam or bridge case, I do not
think it likely that Mr. Johns had ever talked with Mrs. Chenoweth
in regard to it. I asked Mrs. Chenoweth soon after the sitting and
she stated that she had never heard of the case or of the bridge and
had never been in I where she could have seen it. The case
possessed no significant features which would have called for com-
ment by Mr. Johns as it was not a peculiar case for him, because he
was familiar with flowage cases as I personally knew. It was not
a case that was ever published in the newspaper so far as I know,
certainly not while I was connected with it. If newspaper mention
was made of it, it would have been some time before and in a local
paper to which I am sure Mrs. Chenoweth would not have had
access. I do not see how it would be easy for her in any way to
have learned about the bridge. The dam is located at I , Mass.,
in a town some forty miles away from Boston where Mrs. Cheno-
weth lives.
1 am sure that Mr. A did not know Mrs. Chenoweth and I
do not believe that he had ever heard of her. Their paths and sur-
roundings were perfectly distinct. When Mr. A was in here
recently in connection with his statement, he told me that he did not
know Mrs. Chenoweth. Mr. A has since passed on. I know
that at the time “ Sunbeam ” said that Mr. Johns wanted to talk
202 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
about the bridge case, she did not know that I had ever seen Mr.
A or was attorney in the flowage case. I had had no conversa-
tion with her or with Mrs. Chenoweth as to any business or personal
matter. I was cautious, extremely so, because I did not wish to do
anything to aid in any way as to possible knowledge which “ Sun-
beam ’’ might at any time give me while under control. The science
of the study was too important for that.
Immediately after the sitting and after Mrs. Chenoweth had
come out of her trance, I asked her and Mr. Symonds (Mr. Henry)
as to their knowledge of any dam or bridge relating to this matter
and they stated that they had no knowledge of it and had never
been in I where they could see it. I am sure that no information
through an intermediary of any kind could have reached Mrs.
Chenoweth or Mr. Symonds in regard to the case, or that they could
have known Mr. A or have heard of him or that I was his at-
torney. Mr. Symonds died this past year so I could not get his
statement in that regard.
I enclose a statement from Mr. A of his memory so far as
it goes in regard to his consulting a medium as to his case on one
day when he left my office. You will notice from this that his mem-
ory is not as full as my statement made shortly after the occur-
rence. He states that he received an injury to his head which has
somewhat impaired his memory. I had not known before he went
to the medium that he intended to do so, and did not then or when
he returned say anything to him of Mr. Johns’s promise to send me,
if he died first, a message, and to send for me. Such things do not
fit into a lawyer's practice. As to your question in regard to Mr.
A , I would say that he is not of an investigating turn of mind,
certainly not in matters of this kind, and might perhaps have given
the medium an inkling of what he desired to leam, as I think many
people would, yet I am sure that he could have given no data on
which to base a message which he brought to me purporting to come
from Mr. Johns. “ The veil between the two existences is very thin.”
The medium whom Mr. A consulted was Mrs. Jennie M.
Bruce (pseudonym), 157 Huntington Avenue. My inquiries made
at the time, indicated that she knew Mr. Johns as a prominent spir-
itualist, but not closely. I feel sure that he could not have told her
that he knew me or that he had promised to send me a message in
case of his death. He had no apprehension of death. He was a
Incidents.
203
strong, tall, well-built man in good health. His death was accidental
in a way, ptomaine poisoning. My relations with Mr. Johns were
not intimate. A medium could not infer from knowing Mr. Johns
or knowing of me, or from anything which Mr. A may have
said, that Mr. Johns would send a message to me. I have every
reason to believe that although her last name was the same, that
she had never heard of me. Moreover, the message to Mr. A
as he brought it to me referred only to my first name, which Mr.
A at the time said he did not know.
In regard to the test message apparently sent by my deceased
wife given me by the mouth of “ Sunbeam ” to be given to my sister
J in Washington stating that my sister had shortly before gone
upstairs and found a collar belonging to my wife and had cried
over it, I would state that Mrs. Chenoweth did not know my sister
or that I had one. I had used absolute care never to mention to her
or “ Sunbeam ” any of my relations to other people or that I had any
relatives. Had Mrs. Chenoweth had any incentive whatever to do
so, I cannot see how she could have ascertained that I had a sister
living away from me and whom I should see on a journey which I
was to take to the west. Certainly she could not have learned from
any source that my wife had left a collar at my sister’s house in
Washington and that my sister had had a crying spell upon discov-
ering it. I did not know the fact myself and my sister as later ap-
peared, had not disclosed it to anybody. My sister had no close
relatives then living in Washington and was then unmarried.
When “ Sunbeam ” asked me to convey the message, I did not
believe that any collar had been left by my wife, and as it turned
out it was a collar which I had never seen. Complying with your
request I have asked my sister to give you a statement of her memory
of the incident and I enclose it. The incident certainly cannot be
explained on normal or ordinary lines.
I took no notes at that interview or any of those early interviews
with “ Sunbeam.” I remember with great distinctness that as I
arose to close the sitting with “ Sunbeam ” she said that my wife
wished me to carry to my sister her love and gave me the message
in practically the words given in my letter to Dr. Hyslop of Sep-
tember 9, 1909, shortly thereafter I stated it to my sister a few days
later. My diary shows that I was at her city cm May 11, 1909. I
was particular to tell the facts to my sister as “ Sunbeam " gave
204 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
them to me, before I let her talk about it, and what she said as to the
matter added practically nothing to what I had been told by
“ Sunbeam."
In answer to your inquiry I positively state that all that I wrote
in the letter to Dr. Hyslop occurred as I recited it, and none of the
statements were projected back into my memory after I talked with
my sister. I opened the conversation with my sister concerning the
matter in such a way that I necessarily had to tell her first. Our
early training had been to keep away from mediums, and until that
day I had not advised her that I had seen one. I surrounded the
matter with great care because “ Sunbeam " had said my wife wished
me to make the inquiry “ as a test.” I shall never forget the amazed
expression cm my sister’s face when I told to her what she had ex-
perienced alone. It momentarily made her speechless.
Your inquiry as to why it is likely that Mrs. Chenoweth knew
nothing about my other sister Amanda and her handwriting, (see
my letter to Dr. Hyslop of August 26, 1917) is answered by saying
that my sister died in December, 1905. She lived about 500 miles
away from where Mrs. Chenoweth lives. I personally know that on
the occasions when my sister had visited me she did not meet Mrs.
Chenoweth. I had not at that time, myself, heard of or known Mrs.
Chenoweth. My sister was a devout member of the Presbyterian
Church and believed that no good came of mixing into psychic
matters.
Yes, at the time of my interview with “ Sunbeam ” on August
2nd, 1919, (see my notes of that date), Mrs. Chenoweth knew of
Dill and Aunt A., although she had never seen them. Uncle J. had
died in 1913, and I am sure that she never knew of him. “Sunbeam,”
however, had described him to me before that date as he was when
living.
In response to your inquiry as to whether “ Mr. X.”, who used
occasional expletives, was in such relations with my family that if
one informed herself about my previous family life she would be
likely to have heard of him as well as his habits : I answer that such
result could not have followed. Mr. X. was my client for many
years, was a prominent man in certain classes, but not a public man.
He had met my wife on different occasions, but knew her only
casually. No one inquiring about my family would learn of him or
that he used expletives in his way. “ Sunbeam ” had referred to
Incidents.
205
him previously. In fact, one interview with her by me when I was
feeling out her mental powers related to him almost exclusively. At
that interview, without any verbal suggestion from me other than my
thoughts she described him with absolute accuracy in personal ap-
pearance, in manners, in the way he held his hands and fingers,
describing the cane that he carried, the house he lived in and a few
pictures in his house ; also his desires about some of his unfinished
matters, and told of his finer qualities as a man of fine perception
and sensibility. He died fifteen years ago.
All that she spoke relating to him I already knew, though her
statements brought to my mind things that had been covered up in
memory. She seemed to look at him with all the knowledge and
vividness which I possessed. It seemed to me as she spoke of him
as if he were present within the range of her view. At the least, it
was a vivid picture of telepathy.
You are correct that in some of my letters to Dr. Hyslop, I have
intimated a doubt as to whether " Sunbeam ” was a distinct spirit
“ controlling ” Mrs. Chenoweth’s subjective mind and acting as a
medium or interpreter between the sitter and other minds in or out
of the flesh ; or whether the subjective mind of Mrs. Chenoweth in
itself by telepathy operates as such a medium for exchange of
thoughts ; in other words that instead of “ Sunbeam ” being a dis-
tinct spirit that she is one of the operating parts of Mrs. Chenoweth's
mind. I admit that the latter view most strongly impressed me at
my first interview with “ Sunbeam ” in my attempt to explain the
phenomena by logical deduction. Are we not all of us possessed of
the faculty of receiving impressions from others' thoughts to a
greater or less degree? Has not everybody thought of people just
before those people came into view from around the comer, and is
this any more than a wireless exchange between subjective minds
and the arising of the thought or conception thus received into the
objective mind ? The existence of this faculty in almost everyone is
of too frequent an occurrence to warrant a doubt of its existence.
" Sunbeam ” herself has denied to me that she is merely one of
the automatic minds of Mrs. Chenoweth and seemed hurt to have me
think it. She read the idea in my mind at first without my openly
expressing it. She states that she is a distinct individual, an Indian
Maiden who once lived in the flesh and resided among her people
and rode ponies on the plains; that of recent years she has existed
206 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
much with Mrs. Chenoweth, (her “medy” as she calls her); that
when not with Mrs. Chenoweth she goes around to other people.
More than once she has said to me on my greeting her: " I have,
since you were here before, been with you,” and then she described
to me with accuracy a place where I had been with details, and in
one instance accurately described an individual with whom I had
talked at the place she spoke about. She states that she knows
all that Mrs. Chenoweth knows, but that Mrs. Chenoweth knows
practically nothing of what “ Sunbeam ” knows except what Mrs.
Chenoweth knows objectively.
One argument probably against the theory that “ Sunbeam ” is
merely another part of Mrs. Chenoweth’s mind, is an experience I
developed at a sitting with Mrs. Chenoweth. It was early in the
evening and I asked Mrs. Chenoweth if she would let me talk with
another of her controls, named “ Whitecloud ” of whom I had
heard, and she asked me to speak to “ Sunbeam ” of it. As a result,
“ Sunbeam ” passed out and after a moment or two of apparent sleep
on the part of Mrs. Chenoweth another “ control ” appeared, and so
on for two others ; thus, counting, Mrs. Chenoweth's objective mind
as one, I talked with five different “ controls," the other four claim-
ing to be spirit “ controls,” one of which asserted that he had been
constantly with me in my youth and at times thereafter. The dif-
ferent “ controls ” were all keyed to a different pitch, the one assert-
ing himself to be my own, being apparently exceedingly grave, digni-
fied and wise, or at least giving Mrs. Chenoweth’s expression that
appearance and giving the intonation of the voice the part. This
“ control ” stayed but a few minutes, and asserted that it was not
accustomed to speak from a human body.
" Sunbeam ” on the other hand, is always a fine little Indian girl
of treble voice, and the other two " controls ” were pleasing laughter
“ controls,” one more so than the other, the last one being near the
surface of consciousness, as I then observed. Yet, after the last
“ control ” ceased, the customary period of repose and silence elapsed
before Mrs. Chenoweth opened her eyes with every appearance and
action of awakening from a very deep sleep. I questioned Mrs.
Chenoweth then as to any memory she possessed of what had hap-
pened since she entered the trance (in my presence) and she had no
memory whatever, of anything that had been said by any of the
controls.” The circumstances surrounding the whole event cor-
Incidents.
207
roborated her statement and her manner and appearance makes it
absolutely certain to me that she told the truth. In daily life she is
a truthful gentle woman, and enjoys her home life and surroundings.
Now was that evening's experience evidential proof of “ control ”
by various spirits or was it the various ranges of the subjective
mind? We all have our range in daily life reaching from grief and
sorrow to hilarity and mirth. Taking it for what they appear to be,
I can see no reason to doubt that the predominating power in each
instance may not be a distinct spirit control. As shown by Dr.
Hyslop’s reports, Mrs. Chenoweth has handwriting “ controls,” and
these, judging from his writings, are as distinct as the conversing
controls seem to be. I do not know as it makes much difference
whether the medium power is a spirit or an attribute of the mind,
providing it can transmit the knowledge which it purports to bring
through. “ God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.”
One of your questions has caused to arise in my mind the query
as to whether the departed souls with whom “ Sunbeam " (or other
control) talks, are the souls themselves or reflection in some manner
of those souls. Whenever “ Sunbeam ” has spoken to me of a new
individual, by name or other identity, I have asked and received a
description of the person, and these descriptions have been correct.
They have corresponded with the individuals as I have kno-um them.
In one instance the description included the long-legged boots like
those which the person wore thirty or forty years ago. It was then
the custom for every gentleman to wear long-legged boots. The
party died over thirty years ago. “ Sunbeam’s ” description and his
messages identified the man without doubt. Could “ Sunbeam ’’ have
made his identity clear to me without reproducing him by descrip-
tion to fit my memory? Is there not a plane of General Intelligence
from which plane facts may be obtained by the sub-conscious mind,
whether as a spirit “ control ” or from its own power ? This sug-
gestion arises from the fact that “ Sunbeam ” (in making her de-
scriptions) seems to draw for the purpose, the information which I,
the sitter, already possessed, as to the individual whom she saw or
conversed with and his manner of dressing when alive.
Yet, though the description of the person is as he or she dressed
when living, 15 or 30 years ago, the information which “ Sunbeam ”
conveys from such person certainly seems to bring his or her mental
activity down to the present time.
208 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
I have no idea that the persons who have passed on are still
dressed in clothes or boots like those which they wore at the time
the sitter knew them, but I cannot see how the sitter could fix the
identity if they were not described, in the way that they were and
were dressed, at the time they were known to the sitter.
Very truly yours,
“ William Bruce.”
Corroboration 1.
Oct. 27th, 1921.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd Street,
New York City, N. Y.
Dear Sir :
Mr. William Bruce has asked me for a statement of certain mat-
ters relating to a law suit which I had against the I Mills.
About 1905 or 1906 I had a suit pending against the I Mills
for flowage to my land owing to their raising the height of the dam
across the I River near my place. In reconstructing the dam
and flash-boards, they raised it higher than the water had formerly
been held up and it resulted in overflowing my property. My at-
torney was Mr. Johns, of Boston. He died in November, 1908, and
within a few weeks after that, a gentleman in his office referred me
to Mr. “ William Bruce,” recommending him as an attorney for that
kind of case.
I went to see him and talked with him about taking the case, and
he told me to get my papers, which I did, from the office of Mr.
Johns. The case was on the trial list for trial, and I was anxious
to have it tried. Mr. Bruce stated that he could not take up the case
to try it for two or three months, but would arrange with the attorney
on the other side to have the case stand over until he could try it.
I consented to do this, but returning to my home I was dissatisfied,
as I wanted the case disposed of. Within a few weeks after I first
saw Mr. Bruce, I returned to Boston and saw him at his office, and
told him that I wanted the case to be tried at once. He said that he
could not do so shorter than the time promised, but would gladly
return me my papers if I wished to get another lawyer.
When I left his office, I was uncertain about what to do, and
seeing the name of an advertising medium in the newspaper, named
Incidents.
209
“ Mrs. Bruce,” I went to her place on Huntington Avenue, Boston,
and asked for a conference. She went into a trance and asked me if I
had some metal thing about me that she could take in her hand. I
took out my watch and gave it to her. She told me to concentrate
my mind on what business I wished to ask her about. She said,
“ You are in some trouble with some concern, but you are coming
out all right.” She then said that she could see a large man, a good
natured man, and said, “ He says to you, that you have got the right
man for your case. You stick to him and you will come out all
right.” She said that he says there is a thin veil that intervenes.
My memory is rather vague on the exact language or details of
the interview, but shortly after that I went to Mr. Bruce and told
him just what had happened at the interview. I recall that Mrs.
Bruce told me to keep my affairs to myself except to my own lawyer.
At the time the dam was reconstructed, there was an old wooden
bridge built prior to 1700. This was removed and an iron bridge
was erected over the dam. It was a bridge about six feet wide, used
only for pedestrians to go over from the street to the mills. The
bridge had nothing to do with the rising of the water over my land
because it stood somewhat higher than the dam itself, as it was built
right on top of the dam.
The dates I have herein named are corroborated by papers which
I have. I am writing this at Mr. Bruce’s request for my memory
of the matter. If, in any way, it should go to publication, I do not
desire my name to be used.
Very truly yours,
C O. A .
Corroboration 2.
Washington, D. C.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd Street,
New York.
Dear Sir:
Upon request of my brother, for a statement to you of my
memory in relation to his deceased wife’s collar, left at my home, I
make the following true statement.
I had occasion, in April or May, 1909, to go upstairs to a trunk,
to get some summer wearing apparel, and in looking it over, to my
surprise I found in a cloth bag, among other things, an ornamented
210 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
stock collar, which had belonged to my brother’s wife, since " passed
over,” it being a present to her from her sister-in-law, when my
brother’s wife had visited me, more than a year before, but I did not
know the collar had been left at my house.
She was doubly a dear sister to me, and having been intimately
associated, a strong affection existed between us.
Naturally, my innermost feelings were stirred, being over-
whelmed with memories of the past, and I wept bitterly for upwards
of an hour without cessation.
As the incident was of a sacred nature, I did not speak of it to
anyone.
My brother, within a few weeks thereafter, on his way to the
West, stopped off in Washington for a few hours, and we were in
the street car when he repeated to me absolutely verbatim the place,
time and every circumstance connected with the incident before men-
tioned, leaving out nothing.
He then said that his knowledge of the whole affair was com-
municated to him by Mrs. Chenoweth’s control, who he said had
given it to her, as coming from his wife.
My brother and I lived four or five hundred miles apart, and
from the time of finding the collar until the time of the conversation,
I had not seen him, neither had I written to him, nor he to me, as I
now remember.
If I had written to him, I had made no mention of the collar, for
when he told me of what had happened to me, in regard to the col-
lar, I knew that no one living had any knowledge of it, and no one
was present, when I came across it, or could have learned of the
incident in any ordinary way.
I was not aware, until my brother spoke, that he had ever visited
a psychic or medium, and I had never before heard of Mrs.
Chenoweth.
We were reared as straight Presbyterians, and taught to let
mediums alone.
When he and I were in our youth, we had discovered that we each
often knew what the other was thinking, to a limited degree, but we
had lived away from each other, for over twenty years, and had not
experienced any exchange of thought, in the meanwhile.
Very truly yours,
[Signed] Mrs. J G. C .
Incidents.
211
Corroboration 3.
H E. W .,
Counsellor at Low.
Boston, Aug. 1st, 1921.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd Street,
New York City, N. Y.
Dear Sir :
At the request of my office associate (Mr. William Bruce), I
wish to state that some ten or twelve years ago, the exact date I do
not remember, I recall that Mr. Bruce came into our office one
morning and said that that morning, just after awaking, he was
lying in bed with his eyes closed, although he was fully awake. He
saw the figure of his Uncle John sitting upright in a chair. He
looked much diminished in flesh and appeared to be sick.
His Uncle John lived in Haverhill, a city thirty or forty miles
from Mr. Bruce, and he had not seen or heard from him for several
months.
Mr. Bruce told his experience to another office associate and
myself, saying that he did so, because if it was a case of telepathy,
and he should hear from his uncle as sick, that we would know of it
before he should receive any communication from his uncle.
A few hours later on that same day, Mr. Bruce received a letter
from the daughter of his Uncle John, informing him of her father's
serious illness and asking him to come to see him.
Mr. Bruce went on the following day and found him as he stated
in the condition in which he had seen him on the morning before
while lying in bed.
I prefer that you use my initials rather than my name in any
article which you publish on this subject.
Very truly yours,
H E. W .
Corroboration 4.
, Mass., December, 1921.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd Street,
New York.
Dear Sir:
Some years ago Mr. “ William Bruce ” came down stairs from his
212 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
room to breakfast and said to me and my husband, now deceased,
that he had this morning caught a mental picture of his Uncle John
who looked in a very sick condition reduced in weight. Mr. Bruce
said he was telling us the fact then because if he found that his
Uncle John was ill as he saw him it would be clearly proved a case
of telepathy. We were making our homes together and when Mr.
Bruce returned home that evening from his office he showed us a
letter from his cousin stating that this Uncle John, “ her father,” was
very sick and if he wished to see him he should come at once. He
went the next day, and after his return he told my husband and my-
self that he had found his Uncle very sick and appearing as he had
caught the image. He said also that the kind of chair was there in
which his Uncle John was sitting as he caught the mental view.
This incident occurred several years before my husband died, No-
vember, 1913.
Very truly,
A C. C .
V *00*210
Incidents.
213
APPARITION AND VERIDICAL AUDITORY EXPERIENCE.
Mrs. Emily R. L is well known to the Rev. Dr. Elwood
Worcester, of Boston, who writes “ she is a woman of fine
Christian character and I believe entirely in her veracity.”
The brief narrative was drawn up in March, 1919, and the
two experiences occurred respectively about two years and one
year previously.
K Ave., Chicago, III., March 7, [1919].
It was almost the first anniversary of my beloved daughter’s go-
ing from us, and my heart was very sad because a deep sense of my
loss seemed to weigh upon me. I awoke, rather indolently, this
April morning, about six o’clock, with my faculties particularly
clear and acute. On looking up, my beloved child was looking down
on me, and smiling. Her face was perfectly distinct, and radiant
with life and love, and so beautiful! The word that always applied
to her was vivid, and so she was as she looked down on me. Such
perfect beauty and happiness I had never seen, and it was her dear
self without a doubt. On her face was transcendent joy, and I
knew she was alive and well and happy. Although she spoke no
word, I understood her perfectly. There was no need for her to
say, “ Do not fret, darling mother, you see me as I am." I felt that
was her message, and my heart was full of joy for her, and for my-
self. That joy, and thankfulness, has never left me. My daughter’s
face, and figure to her waist, was distinctly visible. The rest of her
form seemed in a cloud. This appearance lasted for perhaps two
minutes, and then gradually faded away.
Many times I have felt my beloved child’s presence very near.
The morning after I had received the news of her death, while
kneeling by my bedside, I heard her say distinctly : “ Take care
of ” (naming her husband).
A beloved friend of ours “ passed over ’’ about a year later. This
friend died on a Thursday at 1 P. M. That night, before I went to
sleep, my child said to me, “ is with me.” So little did I believe
this that the next morning I wrote to this friend. The following day
I received the news of her death at the time I have said.
Emily R. L .
214 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
In response to queries from the Society, Mrs. h , in a
letter dated March 20th, the following dates were elicited : The
daughter died April 18, 1917, and her apparition was seen “ about
April 15, 1918,” but the exact date is not certain, as it was not
recorded. The friend died in March, 1918, on a Thursday at 1
P. M. and it was that night when the daughter’s voice was heard
saying : “ is with me.”
A later letter establishes the exact date of the friend’s death,
and adds particulars which bind the two incidents into a certain
unity.
April 8, [1919].
Dear Dr. Hyslop :
At last I have received the date you called for and hasten to
send it. The dear friend to whom I referred died on March 26, 1918.
She was my beloved daughter’s dearest friend. They had been dear
and close friends from girlhood. Both married in Germany, and
had lived near each other in Berlin for some years. There was a
peculiarly tender bond of sympathy between them, and the first two
years of the war they were more than ever to each other. Then the
friend came to America, to be with her people, and was here at the
time of my daughter’s death on April 18th, 1917. She herself died
[eleven] months and eight days later, on March 26th, 1918. It was
on the evening of that day that I heard my dear child say “ is
with me.” I may tell you that this friend was very dear to me, and
almost like my own.
Hoping my reply is satisfactory.
Very truly,
Emily R. L .
Incidents.
215
OBSERVATIONS IN APPARENT TELEPATHY.
Reported by the Rev. Henry W. Winkley.
The author of these notes was the late Rev. Henry W. Wink-
ley, a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, rector of parishes in
Newton, Mass., St. Stephen, N. B., Danvers, Mass., and other
places. Bom in 1858, he was graduated from Harvard in 1881,
and from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge,
Mass., in 1884.
The excerpts are from letters written by Mr. Winkley to Dr.
Hodgson.
Simultaneous Dreams oe Similar Character.
Saco, Maine, Nov. 19th, 1889.
My Dear Sir :
I have been told that dreams may often if not always be traced
to experience, hence I have often so traced them. I give the experi-
ence first, then the dream and coincidence. A book entitled
“ Scrambles in the Alps," by Whimper or Wyncher (the name was
given to me wrong and I forget which is which) [he means Edward
Whymper, author of “ Scrambles among the Alps ’’] describes cer-
tain views and experiences in those mountains. Add to this a con-
versation with a person who had recently attended a lecture on the
same subject and my mind was naturally inclined to dwell on the
subject. One topic was emphasized in the conversation, i. e., the
view from one of the highest peaks. Some nights afterwards I
dreamed that I am on the same summit and behold the view more
or less vivid. I awoke out of the dream, and in the stillness of the
night I hear some one moving in another room, the person being my
wife now, but then we were in courtship. An accidental conversa-
tion next day turned upon the night, dreams, etc. I found that she
had the same dream at the same moment, for we awoke and each
made noise enough to be heard by the other. Upon enquiry I found
she had never had the book or heard the lecture. It seemed to me a
possible mental communication. * * * *
Saco, Maine, Dec. 9th, 1889.
So far as I can remember, no conversation had taken place con-
cerning the dream mentioned in my last [evidently he means con-
216 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
ceming the subject of the dreams, mountains, or views from moun-
tains], before the dream occurred. I find that Mrs. Winkley had al-
most forgotten the circumstance, but recalled it in part. Her
preparation consisted in some journeys to mountains in her home in
Williamstown, Mass., otherwise I know of no conversation or read-
ing which would cause such a dream. To me the most interesting
feature was the time; we were both satisfied that the dreams oc-
curred at practically the same moment. * * * *
Some doubt is thrown upon the telepathic explanation of the
above incident by the theories of Freud. If he is right in his view
of the symbolical* meaning of mountains in dreams, the two per-
sons would have been rather likely at that period to have occa-
sional dreams in which these appeared. One dream may have
begun considerably earlier than the other, and both ended at
practically the same time because the movements of one of the
l>ersons wakened the other. Thus, apart from experience in or
reading about mountain climbing, we would have a not very un-
likely near-coincidence in dreams of the “ universal ” type. But
if what is now to be told was telepathy, it lends some support to
the theory that the dreams exhibited it also.
Further Supposed Telepathic Relations Between the
Same Parties.
[Letter of Nov. 19, 1889] * * * * We lived 150 miles apart
and repeatedly in correspondence one would ask a question which
the other would answer, and the two letters be written the same day
and pass each other on the way. For example, I wrote and asked
her to be weighed. She was weighed and sent word as my letter
was sent to her. Of course many coincidences are due to chance,
and natural events. My observations in this line resulted from sev-
eral years of correspondence, and attention being called to the matter
we observed these things as a matter of curiosity, hence a more care-
ful observation. Some years of married life, with other things be-
fore the mind, caused the subject to be forgotten, but I wonder if
the same would now prove true if we observed.
Frequent claims are made that two persons find such cor-
respondences in their letters in so great a degree that they regard
Incidents.
21 7
themselves as being in telepathic rapport, but in very few cases
are the letters preserved, and a contemporaneous record of the
facts and circumstances kept. Were this procedure employed,
and the data kept in such shape that they would speak for them-
selves, the experiences might be of much value to psychological
science.
Possible Telepathic Relations Between Father and
Small Child.
Saco, Maine, Feb. 26th, 1890.
Since conversing with you I find I am watching all signs and the
other day a circumstance occurred which excited my curiosity.
Frank [his son, age not stated since Dr. Hodgson was personally
acquainted with the family, but judging by incidents not included
here, he could not have been more than five or six years old] was
playing on the floor near my table. 1 said, “ Frank, get that book
for papa,” and pointed towards the case. He surpised me by going
directly to the bookcase and saying “ This ? ” The book was among
many others. It was Stubbs’s Constitutional History of England,
Vol. I, and stood among other histories and with two more volumes
exactly like it. I wondered if it was an accident, and a day or two
afterwards I said the same to him and pointed towards a bookcase
on the other side of the room. This time I pointed to the top shelf,
and he immediately put his hand on the book intended. The third
experiment was later, and I pointed in a general way and asked for
a book ; he started to the case and laid his hand on the wrong book,
but only two volumes away, and a book of similar color to the one I
desired. I said, “ No, this side,” and he brought the one desired.
I have tried it twice since and failed, but circumstances were dif-
ferent; I really desired no book, and made up my mind hurriedly
which one to mention [evidently Mr. Winkley wrote the word “ men-
tion ” instead of some such word as select] , and he did not get it, but
went to the one he formerly got, etc.
Another singular circumstance is this. We have two boys, the
one you saw and one fifteen months old. When Frank was an infant
I had a strong desire to have another boy as a companion for him ;
that desire seemed to be very strong, and in time my desire was
gratified by the birth of secundus. No. 2 has always shown a strong
affection for me. Last summer Mrs. W. was anxious to visit her
218 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Kesearcn.
sister and went with the baby to Mass. I was anxious to carry on
my natural history work and went to Eastport, Maine. The child
was ill nearly all the time and was dangerously ill for several days.
After returning he picked up rapidly, and we thought no more of it.
In December I went away for a part of a week. The child was
again taken sick and Mrs. W. was with it every night. I returned
and spoke to the youngster and he turned over and went to sleep.
When I went to Boston he appeared well, but since then I have been
away again, being absent several days, and he was ill all the time.
When I returned he was in bed for the night. I went up and played
with him and he went to sleep and next day was so well that I put
him on the floor and here he took a cold which was cured without
difficulty. Mrs. W. says that the next time I go away I will have to
take him to keep him well. I do not know that it is at all due to
mental sympathy, and yet it does look as if in the whole family there
was a little touch of it. * * * *
[Letter of May 9, 1891.] The following incident amused me a
little; it didn’t amount to much, but I enclose it.
Boy number two is about two and a half. He is very fond of a
train of cars — everything is cars with him, a picture, a toy, a noise,
a game, all are apt to be “ train-cars.” I think he has never seen a
steamboat, and he has seldom heard one mentioned. I have been
reading Stanley’s “ Darkest Africa.” While reading, the boy came
to me and asked for paper and pencil. I gave him an old envelope
and pencil. He sat down by the table and began to scratch lines as
children do. I returned to Africa, and continued reading. The
scene was where Stanley had found Emin, and I fastened my mind
intently on the description of Emin’s steamboat. I recall that I was
quite interested in it. As I finished the last line the boy jumped up
and held his paper before me and said, “ That is a steamboat," with
his customary lisp. I should not have noticed it, had not the word
been an unusual one with him — perhaps my mind influenced
him. * * * *
[Letter of May 14th, 1891.] The date of the coincidence men-
tioned in my letter was a day or two before I wrote. I do not re-
member exactly, but within two or three days. * * * *
[Letter of June 11, 1891.] Amusing incidents have occurred
again, and I must share them with you. We shall have to call this a
banana story. We are all fond of bananas, and I frequently buy a
Incidents.
219
bunch. I did so on Saturday last. On Sunday afternoon I had
occasion to refer to the Encyclopedia Brittanica article on Rev.
John Bampton. The next article is Banana, and as my eye was
caught by it I read on. One thing struck me, *. e., his statement that
that fruit was sweet but had no flavor. In the evening, after service,
we thought we would eat some and Mrs. W. and I sat in the study.
As I began to eat I thought of what I had read about flavors, and
in my mind I said, “ How absurd ! There is a fine flavor." Just
then Mrs. W. began to talk about the fine flavor of the fruit she
was eating. Leave this here and go over to the next day. On taking
the fruit from the bunch I found some tropical vegetable lodged be-
tween stalk and fruit. I happened to speak of it to a retail dealer
and also of the fact that I had obtained several varieties of land
shell from the wholesale fruit dealer. The person with whom I
conversed some of insects, etc., found by him — he said tarantulas (I
doubt the identification), etc. I started home for dinner and Frank
met me at the comer of the street. We hurried along, as I was a
little late. Frank asked me some question, which I cannot recall. I
was thinking of the animals on the banana, or, in other words, medi-
tating on the conversation with the retail dealer. I made some
absent-minded answer to Frank’s question. He saw that my answer
was not to the point and said, “ Papa, I guess you must be thinking
of the bananas.” Yet his question and my answer had nothing to do
with that fruit. * * * *
I am tempted to make a careful record of each coincidence, if I
can remember to record them. They are numerous, and many are
overlooked.
P. S. Some time ago I sat in the study window and took Frank
in my lap. I fixed my mind on the first object which caught the eye.
It chanced to be a garment on the clothes line, a towel or something
of the sort, and after one or two remarks Frank said, “ Papa, the
clothes are on the line.” If I can get at the experiments with him,
I am sure some good results will follow.
[Letter of June 24th, 1891.] * * * I must tell you an amusing in-
cident. A few nights ago I went through the process of dying, and
found death not as uncomfortable as some would have it. About
the time I had safely reached the other side, but before I have a
chance to see where I was, I was awake, and the baby, age two and
a half, spoke in his sleep, “ I ain’t going with you, papa.” I con-
220 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
eluded he wasn’t ready to die. I did a moderate amount of smiling
and then went to sleep again.
[Letter of July 23rd, 1891.] Another interesting coincidence
occurred day before yesterday. 1 made preparation for a walk, and
it was quite evident that I was going in search of specimens, but as
to direction there was nothing to indicate my plan. In my mind I
determined to go a short distance into the country, and back of the
house of a parishioner there is a swampy spot where I expected to
find a certain shell, after going there I planned to do a little work
on a brook near at hand. Frank watched me dress and asked if he
could accompany. I think my answer was, “ No, I am going too
far.” He replied, “ Are you going down to Mrs. McC 's ”
(giving the name of the parishioner I had in mind) and immediately
afterward he said, "and to the Goose Fan Brook?” thus naming
the exact spots, and in the order I intended to visit them.
Yesterday I watched for an effect but found none. I was again
making ready to go out (and at such times Frank is interested to
know if he can go with me). He came to ask where I was going.
I made no answer to see if he would know ; he turned to examine
something on the table, and asked if I were going to some place not
in mind. Again he turned to watch a toy revolving in the wind and
asked concerning another place. I was going to a funeral — he did
not grasp the idea. 1 noticed, however, that the mind was partly
occupied. I have never had a case of what I judge to be mental
transfer except with his mind passive. * * * *
[Letter of Sept. 22nd, 1892.] * * * I have two little events
which amused me at the time of occurrence. My vacation was spent
in camp on Sebec Lake, the family with me. I think I may have
mentioned that I am fond of nature and am working on the mollusca.
Frank goes with me on my trips when he can. One day we went
into the woods according to my custom, and I discovered what I had
not noted in previous rambles, «. e., some beech trees, and their
presence was made known by the burr of the nut among the leaves
on the ground. I didn’t speak, but stood thinking that it was some
time since I had seen that nut. It was like an old friend, and I
naturally let my mind dwell on it. Frank looked at me and said,
“ Papa, is there such a thing as a beech-nut ? ” I said “ yes ” ; he
next asked what it was like, and I showed him some fragments. He
may have heard of them, but surely did not recognize them from
Incidents.
221
what he saw, and I cannot recall ever mentioning them to him. I
think the word beech-nut went from my mind to his.
Another amusing event occurred after our return. Sometime
during July I found an unusually good pearl in a fresh water
mussel. I have several other such pearls, but only worth a place in
a cabinet to show the growth, etc. I have occasionally displayed
them and have remarked concerning one that it might make a set-
ting for a lace pin. I am quite sure that no conversation had taken
place on the subject since July, and we were absent from home dur-
ing August, a good chance for Frank to forget any previous mention.
In September I thought I would give Mrs. Winkley a surprise by
having the pearl set I looked at designs, saw a ring that was neat,
compared my pearl with one already set and found it would make
a good setting. I went to the jeweller two or three times before final
arrangements were made, then sent the pearl to be set. Meanwhile
I kept very still that Mrs. W. might not suspect. I was very careful
not to let either boy see me have the pearl, or enter the jewellers,
etc. On the day after the order I was thinking more or less of the
result, and Frank came up with the question, “ Papa, aren’t you go-
ing to have that pearl set in a pin?” or words similar in meaning.
I made some evasive answer, but I couldn’t help thinking that he
had come tremendously near the truth of the matter.
The above incidents are printed only as suggestive material,
nothing more. It does not seem to me a completely excluded
possibility that Frank may, for instance, have picked up some
scraps of conversation about beech-nuts, and wondered whether
what he likewise noticed on the ground had anything to do with
the, to him, unknown nut Or, considering that Mr. Winkley
does not say that the particular pearl was kept in a place inaccess-
ible to the boy, that the child may not have noted its absence and
wondered what was being done with it. The facts may have been
directly the opposite, but the narrative does not so assure us.
We may safely assume, no doubt, that so intelligent a man as
Mr. Winkley would not stare at the clothes on the line on another
occasion when he was making a test. Still, as both father and
son were facing the window, the waving clothes on the line which
attracted the attention of the former was not very unlikely to
attract the attention of the latter also.
222 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
Perhaps the best incidents were those of naming the parish-
ioner to be visited and the brook, both in their order, and the
singular utterance, when there seemed to be nothing to call it
forth, of the sentence, “ Papa, I guess you must be thinking of
the bananas." It is a pity that Mr. Winkley did not, apparently,
carry out his thought of keeping a careful record of such
coincidences.
Booh Reviews.
223
BOOK REVIEWS.
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival. The Fourth Dimension and its
Applications. By W. Whately Smith. Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner & Co., Ltd., London. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1920.
Pp. 195. Price, $2.50.
The title of this book is not descriptive of its contents. It is really
a thoughtful discussion of the relation which may exist between super-
normal psychic phenomena and the hypothetical fourth dimension, with
some reasons to support that hypothesis. The work shows consid-
erable originality in its treatment of the subject, and as it is offered only
as a speculation without any attempt to dogmatise it is worthy of care-
ful consideration. In the preface the author remarks that it is only by
the bold formulation and ruthless rejection of hypotheses that progress
is made, and even if we are compelled to abandon the higher space
hypothesis altogether — as is very possible — the negative information so
gained will be of the greater value if the hypothesis has first been given
the fullest possible trial.
The author is well up-to-date in his knowledge of recent researches
in the constitution of atoms as well as in occult psychic phenomena. He
discusses briefly Dr. Crawford’s experiments on the " psychic structures,”
and shows how the fourth dimension hypothesis might give the ex-
planation of a rigid but impalpable substance. He suggests that the
matter drawn from the medium in such demonstrations passes into a
fourth dimension from which it exerts a reaction which gives the psychic
substance a temporary rigidity. The most interesting chapter of the
book has the title “ Time and Prevision." After referring to Mr.
Bragdon’s " Four Dimensional Vistas ” and Mr. Klein’s " Science and
the Infinite " the author suggests that the fourth dimension may give
a view point for time as well as space so that a four-dimensional being
might have a limited view of the past and future as easily as we with
our eyes above a plane surface can see what is on that surface, al-
though to a being living altogether in the surface such capacity would
seem miraculous. In the succeeding chapter, “ Vitality and Will " is
the subject. It is suggested that life has its origin in a higher space, and
that it — whatever it may be — presses against three-dimensional matter
in which it manifests itself under favorable conditions. This hypothesis
enlightens the theory of graduated life. In the chapter on “The Con-
necting Link ” the author remarks, “ If the four-dimensional hypothesis
■which I have outlined be correct, there should exist, either as an integral
part of the nervous system or in close association with it, some constitu-
ent or substance which, in spite of having many of the properties of
ordinary matter, will also possess characteristics peculiar to itself — as,
for instance, susceptibility to four-dimensional forces imperceptible to
us.” The book concludes with the remark, “ The purpose of this book
will have been amply served if it succeeds in arousing interest in what
will prove, I believe, a very fruitful field of speculation and research.”
— Geo. H. Johnson.
224 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Spiritualism : Its Ideas and Ideals. A selection of leading articles,
sketches and fables. By David Gow. London: J. M. Watkins, 1920.
Pp. 102. Price, two shillings.
This is a book of essays and sketches on the subject of spiritualism
which deserves a wide circulation amongst those who are convinced
that spirit communication is established and also amongst those who still
believe that insufficient evidence has been produced. Mr. Gow deals with
a variety of aspects in these pages and shows some appreciation of the
point of view usually adopted by psychical researchers in contrast with
the opinions of persons who are avowedly spiritualistic in their outlook.
For those readers of other religious faiths the book will be found to
be of especial interest and indeed we congratulate Mr. Gow upon his
temperance and fairness which are apparent throughout this little
volume. — E. J. D.
The Quimby Manuscripts. Showing the Discovery of Spiritual Healing
and the Origin of Christian Science. Edited by Horatio W. Drsssrr.
Thomas Y. Crowell Co., N. Y. Pp. 440+XXX pages of fac -simile
script of Mr. Quimby and Mrs. Eddy.
This book effectually carries out the claim announced in the title,
and ought to have been issued fifty years ago. That Mrs. Eddy was
treated by Quimby at intervals for several years, that as long as he
lived she continued to employ his ideas and his methods of mental cure,
that her first lectures were expressly expositions of his doctrines, that
the very term of “ Christian Science ’’ was his, and that much of the
teaching of “ Science and Health ” was first made familiar to her by
the Portland psycho-therapeutist, is made satisfactorily manifest. And
there appears to have been no excuse for calling him a “ mesmeriser,”
since he had dropped all mesmerizing from his system long before Mrs.
Eddy knew him, as his manuscripts plainly show.
Quimby was somewhat illiterate, and had little knowledge of physiol-
ogy or of the psychology of his time. Therefore he entertained many
crude and even absurd notions. But his limitations of knowledge gave
him, perhaps, the greater confidence in his theories and also contributed
to that self-confidence which is so necessary to impressive suggestion
to patients, and possessing a good fund of common-sense which mingled
with the crudity of his theories, he was able to give good practical advice
tending to remove those emotional perturbations which reflect themselves
in the body. There is no reason to suppose that Mrs. Eddy or any of
her followers ever surpassed his therapeutical record, if any of them
equalled it.
One admires the modesty, honesty and freedom of cant manifested
by Quimby, virtues not always imitated by his virtual successors. And
with all his vaulting over logical chasms, which faults have been per-
petuated or added to by others less modest, he was a true pioneer, and
his works have a certain value, less than they would have had if they
had been published fifty years ago, when psycho-therapy was in its
infancy. — W. F. P.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOI
i
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc.), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and clairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of “ mediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering thereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
ASSOCIATES have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal, and of consulting the Library. The annual fee is
$5.00. A person may become a LIFE ASSOCIATE by the payment of
S 100.00.
MEMBERS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal and Proceedings, and of consulting the Library. The
annual fee is $10.00. A person may become a LIFE MEMBER by the
payment of $200.00.
FELLOWS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving the publications of the same and of special facilities in the use
of the Library. The annual fee is $25.00. A person may become a LIFE
FELLOW by the payment of $500.00.
PATRONS have all the privileges of the Society, those above named
and such as shall hereafter accrue, and are constituted such for life by
the payment of $1,000.
FOUNDERS have the privileges of the Society, those already enumer-
ated and such as shall hereafter accrue, and become such for life by the
payment of $5,000.
ALL MEMBERSHIPS date from January 1st, though persons who
join in November or December will receive the Journals of those
months free.
Contributions for or communications regarding the contents of the
Journal, also reports and letters relating to psychical experiences and
investigations should be directed to DR. WALTER F. PRINCE, Editor
and Principal Research Officer. Business and general correspondence
should be addressed to GERTRUDE O. TUBBY, Secretary.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices, 44 East 23rd St, New York, N. Y.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute (or Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, (or the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corporation and is supported by contributions from its members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute is perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the p'urposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The form which such dedication
should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
draft.
FORM OF REQUEST FOR THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
" I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
Research, a corporation organised under the Laws of New York, the sum
of dollars,* in trust, however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,! a branch of
said corporation, and for its purposes only."
* la cw the bequest is real estate, or other specific items of property, they should be
sufficiently described for Identification.
t In case the donor desires the funds used for Psycho- therapeutics this should rend:
“ in trust, however, for the benefit of its branch (or the inveetifation of Psycho*
therapeutics and for such purposes only.”
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. May, 1922 No. 5
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
“Spiritualism and Lunacy” ; Exaggerations as to Spiritualists; Our
Contributors ......... 225
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician. By E. Pierre Mallett,
M. D- (First Part) 232
Psychical Research in Letters of William James. By Miles
Menander Dawson ........ 243
The Case of Mrs. West. By Walter F. Prince . . . 249
INCIDENTS:
Incident of the Ear-ring. Reported by W. H. Rucker . . 269
CORRESPONDENCE :
Some Experiments in Telepathy, by the Rev. G. H. Smith, D. D. ;
Psychometrical Variations, by Nellie M. Smith; The Pur-
ported Spirit Photograph, [by Sir Oliver Lodge. . . . 276
BOOK REVIEW:
The Earthen Vessel (By Pamela Gienconner) .... 288
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. $5 Annually. Abroad £1. Is. 60 cents a copy.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 28rd New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company, York, Pa., to which send changes of address.
Entered as accond-class matter, July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March 9, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for
in Section 1108, Acyef October 8, 1917, authorized April 27, 1922.
zC
• , -.Google
Westbl,
Titus Bui.
Miles M.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B., Ph.D.,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D., Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M., Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D., University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D., F.A.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S., LL.B,
New York. N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D., Baltimore, Md.
Wiluam R. Newbold, Ph.D., University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D., LL.D., New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D., LL.D., Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D., Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D., LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B., A.M., Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D., Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D., Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass,
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D. Lawson Purdy.
Miles M. Dawson.
VOLUME XVI— No. 5
MAY. 1922
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Pa oi
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT fW
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Paychic Phenomena and the Physician.
By E. Pierre Mailed. M. D. (Pint
Part) M*
Psychical Research in Letter* of William
James. By Miles Menander Dawson 143
PlOW
The Cue of Mr.. Weal.
By Welter F.
Prince . , ,
. .
INCIDENTS:
. . *6»
CORRESPONDENCE. .
. . . *76
BOOK REVIEW:
. . . *88
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for food reason, the writer's true name
is withheld, it is preserved on file, and is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
“ Spiritualism, and Lunacy.”
Psychical Research is not Spiritualism, but they deal with the
same phenomena, however widely their methods and aims diverge.
Therefore the occasional assertion, unbacked by proof, that inter-
est in these phenomena frequently produces insanity, is aimed at
Psychical Research as well as at the religious cult.
Consequently it is of interest to see what a scholarly Spirit-
ualist, Mr. H. J. Osborn, of London, who has taken great pains
to investigate the charge, has to say. We reproduce the greater
part of his statement, found in Reason:
Constantly in England, and at least occasionally in America,
the assertion is made that a study of Spiritualism leads to lunacy.
Indeed this theme has led some otherwise estimable people into
great extravagances, and by some — writers, preachers, speakers,
doctors — lunacy has been pronounced the “ inevitable ” result of
" dabbling ” in Spiritualism !
The chief offenders are to be found amongst doctors and
226 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
preachers — the writers usually only echo these — and again almost
without exception, the doctors speak not as doctors, but as preach-
ers— ecclesiastically minded laymen. Such, however, are apt to
be given undue credence, they are supposed to know what they
talk about, and are even quoted, in the loose way of some news-
paper writers, as “ scientists ” and " psychologists,” when, on this
subject, they have no sort of claim to either title.
Hence, both in England and in America, I have again and
again been called on to refute that which is an unwarranted
calumny. During, perhaps, twenty years in England this pet
fallacy of opponents was repeated, and often denied. Spiritual-
ists feeling secure in their knowledge of its falsity, were for long
content merely to deny the statement. But a lie, once upon the
path, will run and keep on running ; and this one gradually gained
in assertiveness, till it grew to a definite figure — 1,000, 10,000.
and even 100,000 a year, being given as the awful accumulation
of Spiritualist lunacy in England.
The origin of such foolish figures was a statement years ago,
by a Dr. Forbes Winslow, who “ computed ” 10,000 as being in
asylums. But, on challenge, he made personal investigations,
found he was wrong, converted himself to Spiritualism, and
publicly cancelled his own statement. But he is still being quoted
as an opponent!
The most recent champion, in England, of this fallacy and
slander, is a certain Dr. A. T. Schofield, whose persistent mis-
statements, in face of clear refutation, calls for reprobation. He
has been quoted freely, in recent months, in American news-
papers and several times it has been my privilege to expose and
explode his vagaries.
A year or so ago I put the subject to the test of close and
definite research. I put under contribution, in evidence, the
medical superintendents of most of the great lunatic asylums of
England and Wales; and I ransacked, over a series of years the
government reports on statistics on lunacy.
The replies of the asylum doctors were, uniformly, that these
asylums did not contain any inmates whose insanity has been
certified as caused by Spiritualism ; and in the rare cases where it
enters at all as a causation, it is shown to be only contributory, if
that, because of the presence in the case of heredity or other
leading cause.
The government figures are uniformly against the slander.
The asylums of England and Wales contain few over 100,000
lunatics, of all types and conditions; none are certified as due to
Announcement and Comment.
227
Spiritualism ; and so far from this being a cause the real causes
are shown to be in the heaviest proportions — alcohol, heredity,
privation and syphilis. These, and some others, are preventable
causes, and the slanderers of Spiritualism would be better em-
ployed in trying to secure better laws and better application to
these subjects.
It became obvious, from a study of the official figures, that if
Spiritualism be a cause of insanity, its incidence must be sought
in one line — that dealing with sudden mental stress. Under that
heading in the official records are included all cases of religious
mania, so certified.
I carefully examined a table covering five years — the latest —
and found that this phase of mental stress, standing alone, gave
only — males, 1.4; females, 2.3. That is about one and a half
hundred — the totals, as well as the percentage, being negligible.
It is evident, then, that Spiritualism as a factor in the causation
of insanity is, practically, a minus quantity.
I found it, however, an interesting diversion, after proving
that Spiritualists do not become insane, further to enquire where
the preachers and the doctors — our chief slanderers — stand as
regards insanity.
From the same government figures I found, according to the
latest report, which showed the incidence of insanity in respect of
“ all occupations ” the proportion of insane per 10,000 is 4.94.
But the clergy of the Church of England average 10.3 — more than
double the general average ; and that one cleric is certified insane
every week !
Of the doctors, three are certified insane every five weeks, and
the average is 14.3 — nearly three times as many as the general
average.
Moreover, I made a curious table, showing, from the official
figures the balance detained of doctors and preachers on twenty
years admission, and after deducting the general average of deaths
and recoveries.
This table shows that the balances were — clergy, 309 ; doctors,
357 ; total, 666.
A distinction should be made between Spiritualists becoming
insane and their being made so by their interest in phenomena,
and that Mr. Osborn appears to have neglected, perhaps only by
an inadvertence of expression, in one sentence. He probably
would not contend that the Spiritualist faith is an unfailing
228 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
preservation against the possibility of becoming insane from other
causes.
It has long seemed to us that the danger, if danger there is, in
psychical experimentation has been monstrously exaggerated.
There is no logical reason why utter absorption in such matters to
the neglect of others should not be dangerous, as the same type
of undue absorption in religious exercises, politics, science or art
may be in the cases of persons whose oerebro-neural constitution
contains a factor of instability. People become insane following
troubles in business and love, but this is not urged as a reason
why everyone should shun business and courtship.
Again, it is very common for a person who is beginning to
become insane to fix his attention upon something of a recondite
nature, around which his imagination can play, and which satis-
fies the demand of his disordered intellect for a cause to which he
can ascribe his hallucinations.
The paranoiac hears voices and believes that they come from
phonographs concealed in the walls to annoy him. Or he is perse-
cuted by some telepathist who, wherever located, can read his
every thought. Or some one once stared at him, and he has been
under hypnotic influence ever since. Or the notions buzzing in his
brain are charged upon wireless telegraphy. Or it is spirits who
are doing the mischief or conferring supernal favors. Many
more cases come to my notice where the fixed ideas are concerned
with phonographs, telepathy, hypnotism and wireless telegraphy,
than where they relate to spirits, yet the same persons who confi-
dently claim that spiritism or interest in psychical research has
caused the insanity in certain cases would never think of blaming
phonographs, wireless telegraphy, etc., in the more numerous
cases. That is to say, it is infrequent to get trustworthy data on
cases where interest in psychical phenomena has been followed
by insanity due to that interest, but frequent to hear of cases
where minds whose disorder has already begun gravitate to
spiritism or concealed phonographs, wireless telegraphy, telepathy,
radium. X-rays, et al.
We can agree with whatever anyone may say about the theo-
retical dangers of too great absorption in any of these subjects,
but have come upon very little evidence of their causing mischief
to a healthy mind.
Announcement and Comment.
229
Exaggerations as to Spiritualists.
Some persons are haunted by dreams regarding the enormous
growth of the religious body known as “ Spiritualists,” and the
fear that Psychical Research is aiding in this development which
they fancy is undermining all the churches.
Without prejudice to the Spiritualists, who are entitled to
carry on their propaganda as they please, a few facts may be
stated employing the not invidious terms of William James in the
sense which he gave them. Psychical Researchers are the “ tough-
minded,” who study phenomena by the rigid principles of science
in the cold light of logic, while the Spiritualists are the “ tender-
minded,” who ardently embrace these phenomena as an already
sufficiently known body of data to furnish the basis for a religion
and who inculcate that religion with passionate fervor. These
two types of mind do not come into favorable conjunction but
rather occult each other. The professional mediums who serve
the cult seldom offer themselves to Psychical Research for experi-
mentation. In England Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, now a pro-
nounced Spiritualist, has definitely stated, as many others have
done hitherto, his disgust for the Society for Psychical Research,
which has caused him and others to turn to the “ British College
of Psychic Science ” and to the “ Society for the Study of Super-
normal Pictures ” as the true centers of light in that country. The
co-religionists generally regard Psychical Researchers as a set of
dull plodders among the rocks of Moab while they themselves have
levelled the walls of Jericho and are already in possession of the
promised land. This is so plainly a fact that no one can be of-
fended by its being stated. While scientific investigation must go
on whatever is said about its consequences, its manifest tendency
is to restrain enthusiasm and thus to hold many back from becom-
ing Spiritualists. Whether that is a fortunate or unfortunate fact
depends, we suppose, upon whether one is “ tough ” or “ tender
minded.”
We cite one of their organs ( The Two Worlds, Nov. 25,
1921) lor proof that exaggerated estimates of the growth of
“ Spiritualism " are sometimes made :
“ Mr. [Rev. Charles] Rouse told his audience that ‘ in London
there were 35 to 40 Temples, with morning and evening services,
230 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
and Sunday Schools in the afternoon. One priest told him that
the Spiritualists in his town were emptying the Sunday Schools,
since they were richly endowed, and could afford to bribe the
children.’ We hope our London friends will not get swell-headed
at their 40 meeting places being designated Temples, and we are
glad to know that some Spiritualist Temples are ‘ richly endowed.'
We have yet to learn of the first Spiritualist Society with an en-
dowment of the handsome proportions of £20 per annum.
Glasgow, he hears, has an average congregation of about
2,000 at their principal meeting place, which is about 100 per
cent, exaggeration. ’ He was told that in the Isle of Man Spir-
itualism was penetrating to the remotest villages.’ Oh, dear us!
and we haven’t a Society there. It’s the old story of exaggerating
facts to make a case.”
Formerly the number of Spiritualists in the United States was
estimated even as high as 10,000,000, a grotesque exaggeration,
even though it was meant to apply to the number of persons who
occasionally attended the services. It never has been easy to tell
what the number was at any time, as local societies were con-
tinually forming and disintegrating. Possibly there were once a
few hundred thousands. But by their own official statements they
are not flourishing to the extent they formerly were, in this
country. Whether the chilly-eyed Gorgon, Psychical Research, is
in any degree responsible for this, the reader can guess as well
as we.
Our Contributors.
Miles Menander Dawson, LL.D., is a prominent New York
insurance lawyer and one of the leading American actuaries. As
such he has been concerned with many important cases and State
and Federal investigations. He would probably have to go to
Mars to find an actuarial association with which he is not con-
nected, and the list of literary and artistic clubs with which he is
connected is nearly as long, yet he finds time to be a very active
member of the Board of Trustees of the A. S. P. R., and a
member of its Advisory Scientific Council, nearly always present
at its meetings. He is the author of various treatises on insur-
ance, also of The Ethics of Confucius, and translator of works
from the Norwegian.
Announcement and Comment.
231
Eugene Pierre Mallet, M.D., graduated from Long Island
Hospital College, in Brooklyn, N. Y., 1889, and since then has
had a varied assortment of official connections. Among these
were: Gynecologist in Roosevelt Hospital, 1892-3; same in Van-
derbilt Clinic, N. Y., 1893-1902; same in St. Bartholomew’s Hos-
pital and Clinic, N. Y. ; same in Polyclinic Medical School and
Hospital, N. Y. ; Instructor in Gynecological Surgery in Post-
Graduate School and Hospital, N. Y. He is a member of medi-
cal associations all over the lot.
Allerton Seward Cushman, B.S., A.M., Ph.D., contrib-
utor to the March Journal, studied at Harvard, Freiberg, Heidel-
berg, etc. He volunteered in the war with Spain and rose to the
rank of captain. After a term as professor of Chemistry at Bryn
Mawr, he served for ten years as Assistant Director of the Office
of Public Roads, United States Department of Agriculture, and
was the chemist in charge of its investigations. In 1910 he
founded the Institute of Industrial Research, Washington, D. C.,
and still is its Director. He served in the Ordnance Department
during the last war, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He
is author of “ The Corrosion and Preservation of Iron and Steel,”
and of many scientific papers and bulletins, and is affiliated with
a number of scientific associations. The Franklin medal was
awarded him in 1906.
)OvJI
232 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND THE PHYSICIAN.
By E. Pierre Mallett, M.D.
The usual excuse of scientific men for taking no interest in
psychic phenomena is that they consider them under two heads,
foolishness and fakery. I have not the time nor patience to enter
into any discussion along these lines, as it is now no longer neces-
sary to elevate ignorance to the dignity of scepticism. A skeptic
is one who has investigated but is not convinced. Ignorance has
no standing in the court of science or law. The ouija board has
now become almost as common among the laity as the stetho-
scope among doctors. An astonishing amount of information
regarding the unseen can be obtained by the studious application
of either instrument — crude as they both are — if intelligence and
the earnest desire to gain information is behind the endeavor.
Psychic discussions usually follow the lines of legal discussions,
and prepossessions regarding the credulity, lack of integrity, or
the actual imbecility of the witness is the main line of attack. In
politics it was the " Ananias Club ” — in psychic discussions it is
the “ Imbecility Club.” If academic science continues to regard
psychic phenomena as absurd, and will not examine the evidence,
then its opinion must be disregarded. Nothing is evidence to
those who refuse to examine it. When fully fifty professors in
great seats of learning have endorsed certain facts, is it reason-
able that these should be disallowed by persons who have not
tested them? To reject a reality because it lends itself to raillery
is an attitude unworthy of a scientific mind.
Next to the imbecility of the investigator and recorder of
psychic phenomena, the most frequent criticism heard is that the
alleged communications are never of any importance even if
genuine. Think of it, one's opinion of the possible value of a
fact being used as an argument against the admittance of it as a
fact. On the discussion of no other scientific subject does a man
who admits that he has no first hand knowledge of the subject,
either by investigation or study of the literature, feel so per-
fectly free to criticize. He does not realize that any true knowl-
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
233
edge he might possess on the subject must be from intuitive or
supernatural sources, rather than through any intellectual efforts
on his part. As a matter of fact many most remarkable predic-
tions as well as valuable information have been obtained through
psychic sources, and have been recorded from the most ancient to
modem times. Time will not permit me to take up this point but
one automatic message is so appropriate to an audience like this,
that it must suffice. “ Two things we strive for through these
communications, to prove to a group of intelligent persons that
this force exists and may be practically applied between your
plane and ours, and to warn mankind of the nature and external
import of impending struggles. We have more to tell when they
are ready to listen and upon the choice of these who hear this
truth, the progress of the world depends.” Does such a message
sound to you like the mouthings of an ignorant commercial
medium ? Knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, physics or medi-
cine was not obtained without study and investigation; neither
will this most subtle “ science of the soul ” be developed and
understood without persistent and laborious effort. What more
important work could engage the human intellect ? (For we may
well say with the Messiah, “ For what shall it profit a man if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? ”) The litera-
ture is rapidly increasing; personal investigation is simple and
easy. If the subject has no interest for you, at least do not clog
the wheels of progress by theoretical objections, but keep an open
mind on this as on any other line of scientific inquiry.
Another class of obdurate (to use as inoffensive a term as
possible) objectors is that composed of those religious persons
who maintain that God never intended communication between
the living and the dead, and if He did permit it He would not use
such trivial methods as the ouija board and table tapping — two
perfectly gratuitious assumptions on their part that would do
credit to the ex-Kaiser in the days of his greatest alleged intimacy
with God. As this is a scientific and not a religious discussion I
cannot go into this phase very deeply, but as one’s religious con-
victions are deeper than any others, I want to assure the religious
objector that he has nothing to fear from science. He seems to
think that the Psychic Researcher is bent on minimizing his belief
in God and his Bible, whereas the opposite is true, and both are
234 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
being supported as never before. The most superficial reader of
the Bible must perceive that its essential characteristic is psych-
ical, and that it deals specifically with the relations of God to
man — God is Spirit and necessarily this relation with man must
be through spiritual or psychic means. What would your precious
Bible be if stripped of all its wonderful psychic phenomena —
materializations or apparitions of godly messengers or angels and
departed spirits, clairvoyance, clairaudience, prevision or proph-
ecy, automatic writing, telekinesis, levitation, etc., all of which in
our present benighted state of knowledge we call miraculous and
supernatural. The Bible was the first and is the greatest exposi-
tion of psychic phenomena ever written. The materialist is at
least consistent. He says he doesn’t believe in immortality and
must be shown, while the religious objector says he believes it is all
so, but he doesn’t want to be shown. How the scientific proof of
immortality can lessen one’s belief and hope in it I cannot con-
ceive. But I cannot dwell longer on this phase.
Notwithstanding the fact that the overwhelming majority of
scientific men who have seriously and consistently studied these
psychic phenomena have reached the conclusion that there is per-
sonal survival after death, the medical profession, to whom it
should most deeply appeal, has, with few exceptions, seemingly
given the subject less attention than has any other class. The
apathy, if not actual antagonism, that medical men show in regard
to psychic investigations is astonishing when considering how
closely allied it is to their life work. The influence of the mind,
soul, or spirit upon the living body has been recognized in the
earliest records of medical science and is admitted by all. The
soul has been regarded by materialists as a by-product of the
anatomical brain, but I propose to show that the soul was and is
inherent in the lowest order of protoplasm from which all living
creatures have developed, and as this earliest form of life first
appeared in water, that account of the creation in Genesis, that
" the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters,” may take
on greater scientific significance in explanation of the origin of
life on this planet. “ We are prone to forget that man is a
multiple descendant of his ancestral water-born unicellular marine
organism ; that man has emerged from the sea, bearing the form-
ulas of the sea — that he is a landed marine animal, obeying the
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
235
laws of the sea." ( Crile-Surgery, Gyn. & Obst. 2/22). To intro-
duce a soul into the investigations of biology and physiology will
be to revolutionize them. I agree with Hyslop when he says that
the most useless inquiries in physics and chemistry will engage
hundreds of men and unlimited means if only fame and curiosity
can be satisfied ; but when one offers to prove that man has a soul,
or that mind may be a factor in biology and therapeutics he meets
only ridicule. For instance, the Nobel prize of 1909 was awarded
to Prof. Michelson for determining the change in the level of
water on the earth’s surface, due to the periodic distortion by the
sun and moon. This he laboriously and probably correctly figured
out to be 1/1000 inches — interesting to some perhaps, but not of
thrilling importance to the race. Again Prof. Jean Becquerel, of
Paris, acquired fame by his study of the atoms contained in a
molecule of gas. These could not be seen by the most powerful
microscope, but he calculates that a cubic centimeter contains 30
billion billion molecules. The study of these figures may be an
intellectual aid in contemplating the cost of the world war or as a
training in higher mathematics to the future profiteer. Einstein
has recently become celebrated by his theory of Relativity. He
says that it can be of no possible use to the inhabitants of this
earth in which time is a factor, and modestly admits that only
about twelve men in the world can understand it. If it were as
difficult to study these commonplace psychic phenomena which
tend to enlighten us in that all-important condition of life both
here and after death, as it is to obtain all of this useless informa-
tion about hypothetical bodies and conditions, there would be
some excuse for neglecting it, but this information seems to be
within the grasp of any one who will make the slightest effort to
obtain it — in fact it seems to be almost as free as the Gospel itself.
“ Ask and you shall receive ” seems to be as applicable to spiritual
communication and comfort to bereaved ones as any other bless-
ing. Although thousands of persons of every grade of intelli-
gence, from every country and race of peoples of the known
world, and from the earliest records of the human race, have testi-
fied to the return, in some recognizable manner, form, or in-
fluence, of departed loved ones; notwithstanding that the Bible,
the one Book most generally believed to be true, together with the
Christian religion itself, is one continuous record of psychic phe-
236 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
nomena ; — notwithstanding all of this, one who even suggests the
possibility of spirit or psychic communication and influence of the
so-called dead upon the living is only met with derision or the
supercilious smile and the query, “ Do you believe in such stuff as
that? ” Is it not time that science orient itself and drop an un-
scientific if not childish attitude towards this most important in-
vestigation and study that can engage the human mind ! As Wm.
James, in speaking of scientists in this connection, said: “ They
are befogged in precedent, physical phenomena and intellectual
theory, unable to follow where they should lead.”
Shall our scientists continue to be befogged by precedent and
physical phenomena, bound and gagged by scientific traditions of
a past age? Shall the same criticism be made of the attitude of
the doctors in this country in regard to psychic investigations as
Dr. Alexis Carrol makes of his native country, France, regarding
scientific advancement in general ? ” France is strophizing and
stifling under great minds by the formula of another age. Power-
ful castes are being formed, which refuse to admit new ideas and
conceptions. Independent spirits and ideas find insurmountable
barriers before them. Scientific audacity is not tolerated ; discov-
eries that shatter the theories of old masters are never admitted.
Science is restrained to the point where it is becoming sterile.”
The busy practitioner can well plead lack of time to study
useless theories such as I have mentioned, but when we as doctors
undertake the herculean task of repairing, preserving and guiding,
as far as we are able, that most delicate and intricate of all ma-
chines, the human body with its complex mechanism of soul and
body, we should be broad enough, as Dr. Frederick Peterson says,
“ to know that there are many great mysteries in our complex
organisms, and all the sciences that have to do with them, to feel
that precious discoveries are always before us, awaiting some
Cortez or Columbus, therefore, not to be too prejudiced to weigh,
ponder and examine, and at the same time to cultivate the critical
faculty." I shall not dwell long on the experimental part because
of the fact that automatic writing, ouija board, and table tapping
communications are now so common that they must be familiar
to all. Automatic writing, while dating back to the feast of Bel-
shazzar, seems to be quite a common modern accomplishment or
gift, and I have been amazed at the numbers of such writers one
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
237
encounters if the slightest effort is made to discover them. The
ouija board and table tapping are even more easy and common-
place, the former, being so light, will apparently respond intelli-
gently, to almost any two persons placing their hands upon it,
though I have seen it refuse to move for some and romp around
the board for others. If the sitters are out for fun only, as is
mostly the case, that is about all they will get out of it, but if
intelligence is used in framing the questions asked the answers
will be remarkably interesting, to say the least. For instance,
Frederick, the automatic communicator to Margaret Cameron
(The Seven Purposes) apropos of foolish questions, writes, “ We
are not here to satisfy intellectual or any other kind of curiosity.
If we were not sure that you would use this information for con-
struction, we wouldn’t fuss about it.”
(Time will not permit a detailed discussion of these simple
experiments.) All psychic phenomena are discussed under two
theories or hypotheses, the Telepathic and the Spiritistic, and I
will briefly summarize each of them as concisely and accurately as
possible. In these phenomena you will observe there are two dis-
tinct elements or forces that must be considered, intelligence and
physical energy. Academic science considers that the intelligence
displayed (if any) is always coherent in the subconsciousness of
the operators themselves. The energy displayed in moving
ponderable bodies is either ignored or attributed to the uncon-
scious idiocy of the operators who, they insist, use their own
energy in spite of themselves. Moving of ponderous bodies with-
out physical contact is assumed as an hallucination.
Telepathy, as usually considered and as proved by experi-
mentation, is the intentional communication of one mind with
another without the aid of the physical senses through other, as yet
unknown, channels. In this limited sense it is not a universal ex-
planation of all psychic phenomena, for in some cases that would
require it to possess a selective power which no experiments or
spontaneous phenomena have shown it to have. There is no evi-
dence to show that one mind can penetrate another mind and pick
out the particular information it desires at that particular moment.
This amplification of telepathy has been brought in to offset the
increasing evidence that messages have come from disembodied
minds. Unfortunately for the theory, it seems to be easier to
238 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
prove the identity of messages purporting to come from the dis-
embodied mind than of those from the living mind. Science re-
quires us to assume telepathy to account for all of these phenom-
ena, and stretch it to the breaking point before going to the spir-
itistic theory on the ground that we must exhaust the natural
methods of explanation before we assume the supernatural. The
scientist talks glibly about the “ vortex theory," atomic theory, im-
ponderable fluids, electrons, ether, etc., and tells us we must ac-
count for the things we can see by assuming other things which we
cannot see. He arbitrarily divides equally mysterious phenomena
into two classes, the one he admits in good standing as supersensi-
ble, the other he condemns as supernatural. The strange part of
it is that the supersensible is only appreciated by the exceptional
scientist, while the so-called supernatural seems to be the common
experience of mankind without regard to age, sex or intelligence.
Telepathy is merely a name for the process by which thought
is transferred from one mind to another and is a good example of
scientific passing of the “ buck ” from the obscure to the still more
obscure. Hudson resorted to this scientific legerdemain by re-
naming it suggestion, which term is employed by doctors today
without the slightest thought as to what it really means. While
the study of physical phenomena has been of vital importance to
mankind and has led to wonderful material progress, that fact
does not warrant psychic phenomena being ignored and unex-
plored. The fact that this vital and potent force has not as yet
been isolated, and there is no adequate comparison to be used to
indicate it, is no reason to ignore it. At present we may think
of it as of electricity, a recognized but not understood force.
Material progress to be constructive and permanent must be gov-
erned by a vision beyond the day; so for psychic or spiritual
progress our vision must be extended. Scientists, like doctors,
seem occasionally to disagree on the diagnosis of telepathy. Prof.
Armstrong says there is no such thing as action of mind upon
mind apart from the recognized channels of the senses, except
such as are explicable by shrewd guessing. Prof. W. Mac-
Dougall (Body and Mind) holds that “The reality of telepathy
is of such a nature as to compel the assent of any competent per-
son who studies it impartially.” Many eminent scientists think
that telepathy will perfectly explain all psychic phenomena, while
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
239
other equally eminent scientists say that telepathy is itself un-
proved and unprovable. In consideration of this diversity of
scientific opinion the status of the telepathic hypothesis of psychic
phenomena may be briefly summed up as follows :
1. It is accepted by the great majority of those who have
made a prolonged investigation, as a convenient way of stating
that active conditions of two living minds may be transmitted
from one to another by some supernormal paths as yet unknown.
2. It is rejected by academic science as unnecessary, on the
grounds that the alleged facts are illusory, which means that men
like Lodge, Barrett, Richet, and others are perfectly competent to
observe physical phenomena, but when it comes to psychic phe-
nomena they immediately become incompetent.
3. It is accepted by many as a rival to the spiritistic hypothe-
sis, as competent to explain all the undoubted facts of psychic
research so far as they seem to point to a transcendental cause.
As no evidence or theory that I know of has been put forward
to explain the process of telepathy we do not know whether it is a
direct or an indirect process and it is open to any conjectures we
may apply. Telepathy does not explain how a thought, expres-
sion, or an emotion is conveyed from one brain to another ; neither
does electricity explain how energy or sound is conveyed over a
wire or through the air. Physicists tell us it is carried on waves
of ether. They also say that ether pervades everything, our
bodies included ; therefore the same conditions apply and all we
need is the generator or Psycho-dynamo. It is admitted that man
has a dual mind, objective and subjective, and that the subjective
mind has most remarkable powers, so that to include such a
psycho-dynamo force generator among its other functions would
cause very little additional burden to our imaginations and aid
materially in helping to solve many obscure problems. Therefore
instead of limiting telepathy to the intentional communication
between minds of the living, I propose to widen its scope of
activities to include all of the manifestations of the subjective
mind, soul, spirit, psychic force, or whatever other names may be
applied to that vital life principle which we know exists in each
of us, but eludes analysis by material methods, and is not express-
ible in terms of matter or motion. This resolves itself into what
may be called the spiritistic hypothesis and implies a supersensible
240 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
process of communication between (1) minds of the living; (2)
between minds of the living and dead; (3) and probably between
the minds of the dead themselves.
The great difficulty of the spiritistic hypothesis, again quoting
Hyslop, is the conception that most people have of spirits. They
cannot think of them as causal agents, supersensible to their
apparent effect on the mind. They are thought of in terms of
sensory experience only. It is not necessary to decide what a
spirit is in comparison with something else as a condition of ad-
mitting its existence. All we require to know is that evidence
points to the continuity of a particular stream of consciousness
and its memory apart from the organism. This is no more diffi-
cult to conceive than electrons, atoms, ether and other invisible
and supersensible things that are said to make up the material
world. The distinctive quality of spirit is thought ; spirit is that
elusive something which thinks, feels and wills apart from the
physical organism. (Space and time are inconceivable in con-
sideration of spirit.)
This spiritistic hypothesis has the advantages of simplicity,
and it also agrees with what we know of the powers of the sub-
jective mind. The objections raised to it are (1) Historical.
That as no authentic message from the world beyqnd has been
received throughout the preceding ages, it is presumptive evidence
that the spirit messages received today are probably due to some
mysterious forces of the receiver’s organism.
(2) That in many of the phenomena there is a curious mix-
ture of truth and error.
(3) The trivial nature of the messages which has been already
touched upon.
In answer to the first objection, let me remind you that mes-
sages have been received and that psychic phenomena have been
recorded from the earliest time and by every race of people ; but
that ignorance, prejudice, preconceived ideas and a materialistic
bias have dulled the minds of the majority and prevented them
from impartially weighing the facts. As to the second objection,
this may indeed seem true to us, but as we do not yet know the
conditions under which the messages are sent and received we
cannot locate the cause of error now. Another reason on the
subjective side for these objections is that inherent reluctance to
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
241
believe anything that we do not want to believe. Bernard Shaw
says that the cleverest man will believe anything he wishes to
believe in spite of all the facts in the world. As Osier puts it,
our prejudices are another difficulty upon the growth of truth —
the force of mental habit becomes irresistible. Walter Bagehot
calls it the “ pain of a new idea." It is as people say, so upset-
ting, it makes you feel that after all your favorite notions may be
wrong, your most firm beliefs ill-founded.
It has been said the psychic manifestations such as we are
now witnessing have recurred periodically from time to time and
for that reason no attention need be paid to them. The present
wave can at least be said to have greater volume and momentum
than any previous one. In any materialistic phenomena such
periodic disturbance would indicate some underlying cause or
evolutionary development and would incite investigation. The
same line of reasoning would seem to hold good in psychic dis-
turbances. May not these phenomena be an indication of mental
evolutionary activity? Man is now the highest expression of
nature and has attained this position by the workings of the
evolutionary forces rather than by his individual efforts. If he is
destined to evolve to a higher plane it must be by his conscious
co-operation and understanding of the laws of nature by individ-
ual effort and intelligent application. It must be by a process of
intellectual growth, and what is more natural at this stage of
physical perfection than that this growth should be in the direction
of the psychical or spiritual rather than the material? Francis
Gallon, a cousin of Darwin, born 100 years ago, had this same
thought — that man, like other living forms, is not stationary, —
with far seeing eye he perceived the main factors in evolution and
saw what might be their influence on man, when he said, “ We
have seen what man can do in modifying the lower forms of life
— why should we not modify man as intensely but far more speed-
ily than nature has done in long geological epochs? Is it not
possible to produce more men of commanding intelligence and
fewer wastrels than we are doing today.” Unfortunately Galton
did not realize that the potentialities of personality, consciousness,
memory and will — those psychic elements which alone can create
a nobler and more intellectual race of men, were the real im-
pelling forces that made man's evolutionary progress possible.
242 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
He only grasped half of the truth of evolution- and devoted his
efforts to Eugenics, or the physical rather than the psychic or
spiritual evolution. Eugenics has and will help to lessen the de-
fectives, but will not alone markedly affect the intellectual and
spiritual evolution of mankind. James Bryce — one of the master
minds of our age — who wrote his “ Modem Democracies ” in his
80th year, is pessimistic as to the increasing mentality of the race
when he says, “ Human intelligence has not increased and shows
no signs of increasing, in proportion to the growing magnitude
and complexity of human affairs.” The mental powers of the
individual man have remained stationary, no stronger, no wider in
their range than they were thousands of years ago. Is it not
evident that we have pursued the material and neglected the
psychical elements and have come to a standstill — why not investi-
gate and find out if there is anything in it after all ?
(To be concluded in the June issue.)
>0*1
Psychical Research in Letters of IVilltam James.
243
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN LETTERS OF WILLIAM
JAMES.
By Miles Menander Dawson.
The first pronouncement of William James upon investigation
of psychical phenomena appeared in an unsigned review of Epes
Sargent’s “ Planchette,” in the Boston Advertiser of March 10,
1869; this review is reprinted in his “ Collected Essays and Re-
views." In it he said : “ The present attitude of society on this
whole question is as extraordinary and anomalous as it is dis-
creditable to the pretension of an age which prides itself on en-
lightenment and the diffusion of knowledge. * * * The phe-
nomena seem, in their present state, to pertain more to the sphere
of the disinterested student of nature than to that of the ordi-
nary layman.”
In 1884 he helped to found that original American Society for
Psychical Research to work in this field in \merica, which was
later abandoned for the American Branch o he English Society.
Concerning the men who founded the origin I American Society,
he WTOte soon afterward, on February 1, 1885, “They seem to
have no preferences for any general ism whatever. I doubt if
this could be matched in Europe. Anyhow, it would make no
difference in the important work to be done, what theoretic bias
the members had. For I take it the urgent thing, to rescue us
from the present disgraceful condition, is to ascertain in a man-
ner so thorough as to constitute evidence that will be accepted by
outsiders, just what the phenomenal conditions of certain concrete
phenomenal occurrences are. Not till that is done, can spiritual-
istic or anti-spiritualistic theories be even mooted. I’m sure that
the more we can steer clear of theories at first, the better. The
choice of officers was largely dictated by motives of policy. Not
that scientific men are necessarily better judges of all truth than
others, but that their adhesion would popularly seem better evi-
dence than the adhesion of others, in the matter. And what we
want is not only truth, but evidence. We shall be lucky if our
scientific names don’t grow discredited the instant they subscribe
244 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
to any ‘ spiritual ’ manifestations. But how much easier to dis-
credit literary men, philosophers or clergymen! I think New-
comb, for President, was an uncommon hit.”
In 1890, the American Society became the American Branch
of the English Society. James, who had discovered Mrs. Piper
and reported upon her trances in 1886, saying that he was unable
to “ resist the conviction that knowledge appeared in her trances
which she had never gained by the ordinary waking use of her
eyes, ears and wits," and had enlisted Dr. Richard Hodgson in the
work, was very active and useful in the American Branch, and
collected for it the first-hand reports, solicited by him, of a vast
number of sporadic, unprovoked cases of coincidence of apparent
communication and of the fact communicated. Concerning these
he wrote on January 30, 1891, as follows: “ One page of experi-
mental thought-transference work will ‘ carry ’ more than a
hundred of ' Phantasms of the Living.’ I shall stick to my share
of the latter, however; and expect in the summer recess to work
up the results already gained in an article for * Scribner’s Maga-
zine,’ which will be the basis for more publicity and advertising,
and bring in another bundle of Schedules to report on at the
Congress. Of course I wholly agree with you in regard to the
ultimate future of the business, and fame will be the portion of
him who may succeed in naturalizing it as a branch of legitimate
science.”
The article, “ What Psychical Research Has Accomplished,"
appeared in The Forum in 1892.
By 1901, both Myers and Sidgwick were gone; James wrote
James Sully on March 3, 1901, saying, in part: “ Yes! H. Sidg-
wick is a sad loss, with all his remaining philosophic wisdom un-
written. I feel greatly F. W. H. Myers's loss also. * * * I seri-
ously believe that the general problem of the subliminal, as Myers
propounds it, promises to be one of the great problems, possibly
even the greatest problem, of psychology.”
To Charles Eliot Norton, then president of Harvard Uni-
versity, he wrote of Myers on June 26, 1901, “ He ‘ looms ’ upon
me after death more than he did in life, and I think that his forth-
coming book about ‘ Human Personality ’ will probably rank here-
after as ‘ epoch-making.’ ”
In another letter to a friend, written July 10, 1901, he returned
Psychical Research in Letters of William James. 245
to the subject, saying, “ Fifty or a hundred years hence, people
will know better than now whether his instinct for truth was a
sound one; and perhaps will then pat me on the back for back-
ing him. At present they give us the cold shoulder. We are
Tighter, in any event, than the Miinsterbergs and Jastrows are.
because we don’t undertake, as a condition of our investigating
phenomena, to bargain with them that they shan't upset our
* presuppositions.’ ”
Of Myers’ book, “ Human Personality and Its Survival of
Bodily Death,” of which James wrote a review, he says in a let-
ter to Flournoy, April 30, 1903, “ It is obviously too soon for it
to be either refuted or established by mere criticism. It is a
hypothetical construction of genius which must be kept hanging
up, as it were, for new observations to be referred to. As the
years accumulate these in a more favorable or in a more unfavor-
able sense, it will tend to stand or fall."
The death of Richard Hodgson called forth the following in
a letter which James wrote to Flournoy on February 9, 1906,
“ None of his work was finished, vast materials amassed, which
no one can ever get acquainted with as he gradually got ac-
quainted ; so now good-bye forever to at least two unusually solid
and instructive books, which he would have soon begun to write
on 1 psychic ' subjects. As a man, Hodgson was splendid, a real
man ; as an investigator, it is my private impression that he lately
got into a sort of obsession about Mrs. Piper, cared too little for
other clues, and continued working with her when all sides of her
mediumship were amply exhibited."
In 1909, James made a report to the Society for Psychical
Research which was published in its Proceedings for that year,
upon purported messages from Dr. Hodgson through Mrs. Piper.
He said of this and of the communications, in a letter written
January 29, 1909, “ I have just got off my report on the Hodgson
control, which has stuck to my fingers all this time. It is a hedg-
ing sort of an affair. * * * The truth is that the ‘ case ’ is a par-
ticularly poor one for testing Mrs. Piper’s claim to bring back
spirits. It is leakier than any other case, and intrinsically, I think,
no stronger than many of her other good cases, Certainly weaker
than her G. P. case.”
In a letter to Flournoy, written August 9, 1908, James said,
246 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ I have just read Miss Johnson’s report in the last S. P. R.
Proceedings, and a good bit of the proofs of Piddington's on
cross-correspondences between Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Verrall and Mrs.
Holland, which is to appear in the next number. You will be
much interested, if you can gather the philosophical energy, to go
through such an amount of tiresome detail. It seems to me that
these reports open a new chapter in the history of automatism;
and Piddington’s and Johnson’s ability is of the highest order.
Evidently * automatism ’ is a word that covers an extraordinary
variety of fact.”
Because William James was first a psychologist and the fore-
most of his time in that science, it is interesting to glean from his
letters that through the methods of that science he had formed
cautious notions of the soul and of the probability that it con-
sciously survives death. These notions also were so favorable to
the view that the soul exists both independently of the body during
life and after the urtion with the body is dissolved by death, that
one must recognize that his equilibrium of opinion regarding
whether or not certain psychical phenomena are due to spirit
return, was not the result of his regarding it antecedently most
improbable that the discarnate soul survives and may communi-
cate. In a letter written on May 6, 1906, he says, “ I have no
doubt whatever that most people live, whether physically, intel-
lectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential
being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible
consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like
a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a
habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergen-
cies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are
than we had supposed.”
But much the clearest and most beautiful expression of the
things which prompted this inference by James’s well-stored and
well-disciplined mind, is in the exquisite letter which he wrote his
sister, then facing death, on July 6, 1891 ; there he says, “ Your
fortitude, good spirits and unsentimentality have been simply un-
exampled in the midst of your physical woes ; and when you are
relieved from your post, just that bright note will remain behind,
together with the inscrutable and mysterious character of the
doom of nervous weakness which has chained you down for all
Psychical Research in Letters of William James.
247
these years. As for that, there’s more in it than has been told to
so-called science. These inhibitions, these split-up selves, all
these new facts that are gradually coming to light about our or-
ganization, these enlargements of the self in trance, etc., are
bringing me to turn for light in the direction of all sorts of
despised spiritualistic and unscientific ideas. Father [who was
interested in Swedenborg] would find me to-day a much more
receptive listener — all that philosophy has got to be brought in.
And what a queer contradiction comes to the ordinary scientific
argument against immortality (based on body being mind’s con-
dition and mind going out when body is gone) when one must
believe (as now, in these neurotic cases) that some infemality in
the body prevents really existing parts of the mind from coming
to their effective rights at all, suppresses them, and blots them out
from participation in this world’s experiences, although they are
there all the time. When that which is you passes out of the
body, I am sure that there will be an explosion of liberated force
and life till then eclipsed and held down. I can hardly imagine
your transition without a great oscillation of both 4 worlds ' as
they regain their new equilibrium after the change! Everyone
will feel the shock, but you yourself will be more surprised than
anybody else. It may seem odd for me to talk to you in this cool
way about your end; but, my dear little sister, if one has things
present to one’s mind, and I know they were present enough to
your mind, why not speak them out? I am sure you appreciate
that best. How many times I have thought, in the past year,
when my days were so full of strong and varied impression and
activities, of the long unchanging hours in bed which those days
stood for with you, and wondered how you bore the slow-paced
monotony at all, as you did! You can’t tell how I pitied you.
But you shall come to your rights ere long.”
What the editor of his letters calls the last complete statement
found in James’s correspondence concerning what had been ac-
complished in psychical research, and concerning his view as to
the explanation of the phenomena, is set forth in the following
from his letter to Charles Lewis Slattery, dated April 21, 1907:
“ My state of mind is this : Mrs. Piper has supernormal knowl-
edge in her trances ; but whether it comes from ‘ tapping the
minds ’ of living people, or from some common cosmic reservoir
246 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of memories, or from surviving ‘ spirits ’ of the departed, is a
question impossible for me to answer just now to my own satis-
faction. The spirit-theory is undoubtedly not only the most
natural, but the simplest, and I have great respect for Hodgson's
and Hyslop’s arguments when they adopt it. At the same time
the electric current called belief has not yet closed in my mind.”
The following brief sentence in another letter is a happy state-
ment of his view of the proper attitude of the psychologist toward
psychical research : “ I prefer an open mind of inquiry, first about
the facts, in all these matters; and I believe that the S. P. R.
methods, if pertinaciously stuck to, will eventually do much to
clear things up.”
>0*1
The Case of Mrs. West.
249
THE CASE OF MRS. WEST.
By Walter F. Prince.
The lady herein called Mrs. West, on June 23, 1917, wrote
from her home, located in New York State, about twenty-five
miles from the office, a letter, asking advice and relating various
experiences which she alleged that she had had, as a basis for the
advice.
As these experiences, mainly relating to quasi-seeing and hear-
ing, were not corroborated by any collateral testimony, they would
not be printed here but for the fact that after experiences more
or less of a similar nature were fully established by contemporan-
eous record and external corroboration. On this account it seems
worth while to present examples as an outline survey of her
earlier psychic career.
New York, June 23rd, 1917.
Psychical Research Society,
Gentlemen :
I thank you for the prompt reply to my communication. Will
send my fee for membership in a few days.
I am presenting you with a report which viewed by the critical
eyes of science may be valueless. * * * *
I trust that you will pardon my verbosity, believing that it is only
through my eagerness to leam, that I am sending you such a lengthy
report.
I was born of religious parents who believed in the old-fashioned
orthodoxy — Heaven and Hell. Spiritualism was tabooed — being
classed with legerdemain. In fact I had never heard it discussed
* seriously, and had never read any psychological books. * * * *
Impressions of a pressure and clasping arm.
I was weak, timid and afraid. Afraid of everything and every-
one. To overcome this and prevent my becoming an arrant coward
1 was sent to bed every night in the dark. This was terrifying; par-
>oqi
250 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ticularly, as I had a brother strong and robust who feeling contempt
for my weakness used to frighten me at every occasion.
It wasn’t long, however, before I noticed that at times when I was
sorrowing alone, I would feel the pressure of an arm round me, or
the presence of some one decidedly friendly, which caused my fears
to subside. This I attributed to angels w-a-y up in Heaven who were
sorry for little children who had to go to bed in the d-a-r-k.
Premonitory Vision.
One night I had this vision : I dreamed that I was in a beautiful
country and walking to a grassy mound saw my mother lying there.
As I looked, suddenly, she arose as though being borne by invisible
arms and ascended into Heaven.
A short while after this she became desperately ill and died.
I had no more manifestations until ten years later. This was
shortly before the birth of my third child.
Premonition f She sees apparition, brother feels a presence, cat
stares and shows fright.
One night I sat talking to my youngest brother who was sitting
at a desk writing a letter. Presently, I left the room and walked
slowly up-stairs to the third floor, to tidy a room which I had been
too busy to attend to during the day.
There was no light in the hall, but a faint illumination came from
an electric light which shone in the windows of the room, from the
adjoining street.
As I neared the landing, a woman in spirit form wearing a black
gown came softly out of the room and approached me as though
to speak.
Sad to say, I became terrified at the apparition. I shrank back
into the niche in the wall while I trembled from head to feet. Never
will I forget her expression as she passed me. Sorrow and disap-
pointment were written in every line of her face. But, undoubtedly,
fearful of the consequences if she uttered the faintest word, she
turned and walked slowly down the stairs.
Instantly, the thought of my brother dawned upon me. What if
he saw this spirit — would it frighten him? His heart was very
The Case of Mrs. West. 251
weak. Would it affect him to see this woman glide softly into the
room?
I tried to call out but my voice failed me. But in a moment I
conquered my fear and with supreme effort I walked tremblingly
down the stairs and into the room where he still sat at his desk.
But his face was changed. It was very white and perplexed.
As I entered the room he arose quickly and caught me by the hand.
“ What is the matter?” he said earnestly, "Come, sit down. You
look as if you'd seen a ghost! ”
I tried to smile. “Yes?” I replied. “Well, you certainly look
so too.” “ Tell me, what has happened to you,” he replied.
Then calmly I related my experience.
He listened attentively and his face grew thoughtful. " It is very
strange,” he said, “ but just after you went up-stairs, I sat writing
at the desk, when suddenly, I felt the presence of some one behind
me. I knew instinctively, that it was supernormal; and although I’m
not a coward, I hesitated to turn round. Particularly, as I had
glanced at the cat which had been sitting by my side and noted her
peculiar mien. She had sprung to her feet, her fur on end, her back
arched, her eyes wild, and was staring at something directly be-
hind me !
“ With an effort I regained my nerve and turned — but I saw
nothing. Although I felt that whatever it was, had turned and was
leaving the room. And looking again at the cat I saw that she had
become more calm and had settled down again.” He looked at me
earnestly. “ What do you think it was ? ” he said.
“ Imagination," I said reassuringly.
But I did not think so; and I wondered what the portent would
be. What was it the spirit would have said? Was it to warn me
of approaching evil ?
Premonitory Vision.
Two weeks later my child was bom. And the day following her
birth I had this vision : I was going down the street when suddenly,
I stopped abruptly, and looked at the sky. There in the clouds was
my husband, the baby and myself, and underneath us was written
the word, " Which? ” As I looked in awe at the sight, I who was in
the clouds vanished and left the others there. And there they are
252 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
now, while 1 am still in this “ Vale of Tears,” — the baby dying two
weeks later and my husband within a year.
Vision. N on^evidential but consolatory.
In 1908 I had my third vision. The years intervening had been
years of toil and trouble. One night after working hard all day and
far into the night, I fell exhausted upon the floor. As I closed my
eyes, the tears running down my cheeks, I whispered a prayer.
Hardly had my eyes closed when again I was walking again in the
beautiful country. As I walked, I neared the bank of a stream upon
which a number of persons were reclining. The thought was con-
veyed, that they had all been precipitated there from another world.
They all seemed dazed as though unfamiliar with the place.
On the opposite bank stood a man clothed in simple garb, with
arms held forth in supplication. One by one they arose and step-
ping over the stream, joined him. But one man irresolute and afraid
held back. Finally the man across the water came nearer and held
out his hand. Waiting no longer he stepped eagerly across and
joined the others who had now recovered themselves and were pass-
ing happily on.
I was standing at a distance alone, when into my heart crept a
longing to be one of that throng; but feeling unworthy I was about
to turn away when a voice beautiful and low said softly, “ You have
suffered and been patient. You shall have your reward.”
I turned and there stood the man whom I had seen across the
stream. But before I could reply, he had vanished. Turning to see
where he had gone, I saw the one at my side who had hesitated.
“ Who was that man?” I asked.
His answer was firm and sweet as he replied, “ It was Christ.”
This dream has no scientific value as the reward was not speci-
fied, nor have I anyone to substantiate it; but in all sincerity I can
say, the reward is come. I have seen the spirit world and communed
with my friends who have passed beyond and death has lost its
sting. And searching my heart I can truthfully say, that above
wealth or honor or glory, this is its greatest desire.
In 1913 I went to sleep one night, when suddenly, I found myself
in a gloomy place down by the ocean. I was sitting on the grave of
one I loved. Presently, my father who had been some time in the
spirit world, appeared, and said earnestly, “ Watch ! ”
The Case of Mrs. IVest.
253
V ision, supposed to predict what is to be*
I looked out upon the water and saw it roll in, in great, black
waves. In a moment there was the roar of many voices coming
nearer and nearer, and in a moment more there was a vast army
of men ragged and unkempt come upon the scene bearing a yellow
flag. Presently, they paused and looked intently behind me. Fol-
lowing their gaze I saw three men in college gowns looking earnestly
at them. Who they were I do not know ; but at one glance of their
eves the mob became subdued and I awoke. The dream has not
yet been fulfilled. But what I believe is this: that our country will
be invaded at an unprotected point on our coast and by those bear-
ing a yellow flag.
Two supposed premonitory visions.
In November, 1915 I was in the country in spirit form, having
gone to sleep and cast off the mortal clod. Peace and happiness
pervaded everywhere. Suddenly, a priest appeared and said in
tender tone, “ Don’t forget the shadow on the wall.”
I laughed. “ O father,” I replied, " one does not look for
shadows when the sun shines.”
“ That is just the time to look for them,” he replied, gravely.
And with that he disappeared. I journeyed on, when presently,
I met a crowd of people dressed in black, looking down upon the
ground. Going hurriedly toward them, I parted them and looked.
On a wall opposite flashed the slender figure of a man — then was
gone. I awoke.
I did not recognize the shadow and strange to say, though my
heart was filled with dread, I did not dream of it being my
youngest brother, the only one on earth I loved.
But as though to break the force of the blow that was to fall,
two months later I had the following vision: I was in the front
room of a house which I had occupied some years before. As I
looked out of the window, I saw my brother standing in front of
the house. He was clothed in a suit of white and on his head
was a hat upon which was the dirt of the earth.
♦This is printed as an example of her visions without present or likelihood
of future evidential value. Those supposed to deal with national and interna-
tional affairs seem to be all unevidential and dictated by a subconsciousness
impregnated with conceptions drawn from yellow newspapers.
254 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
He was talking to a woman who was sweeping the street. She
paused, broom in hand to listen, but turned and winked at a woman
next door who also laughed derisively.
1 turned in sorrow at the sight; and there in the room I con-
fronted my father and mother standing side by side with their
hands held helplessly at their sides. On the face of each was a
look of great sorrow as they gazed upon their boy.
I went to them in the greatest grief, wringing my hands and
crying, “Papa! Mamma! Do something for him!" but they
remained motionless, their eyes riveted upon my brother.
I ran out into the street and looking up at the sky beheld a
large, gray sword. I awoke. As I arose, I was given a letter
saying that my brother was in the city. I sent for him to come
to me. He did so, but had been in the city but a few days when
he was taken ill and passed away.
Racked with grief I accompanied the dear body to the grave.
There I collapsed and was put to bed in my eldest sister’s home.
Toward morning I fell into a light sleep, but my mind was with
the dear one, and thinking that he was ill, I called to my eldest
brother, “ O Larry is sick ! Get me a priest ! ’’ And a voice
deep and tender replied, " The priest is with him, Allie."
Consolatory Vision.
At that instant, I looked down a beautiful road and there was
my brother, beautiful as ever, clothed even as in this work-a-day
world, standing at the beginning of the road. His back was turned
toward me and his head slightly bowed as though in reverence at
the scene. But standing by his side with his head slightly turned,
that I might see his face was the priest holding him by the hand;
and O the beauty and love in that look that was bestowed upon the
boy. He dead? No. Alive ! and well ! and happy ! And the priest —
was He who had said to me, “ You have suffered and been patient.
You shall have your reward.”
I arrived home three days later. It was intensely cold and snow-
ing greatly. I went to the window and looked out. To my mind
came the thought of that lonely grave with the snow falling upon it.
In an agony I wrung my hands. He was cold, I knew ! and I beat
my breast in anguish.
The Case of Mrs. West.
255
Could we but know that ever near us are His messengers watch-
ing every deed, hearing every word, knowing our secret thoughts,
how differently we would shape our lives. Who will believe that at
night when I closed my eyes in sleep I found my brother again and
that he had heard my uttered cry and answered it? * * * *
T old in a vision of error in getting a bill changed.
The day before Christmas this year I had occasion to go to the
Post Office. This is a distance of a mile and a half from the house;
and as the roads were very bad with sleet and snow and the travel
of autos heavy, I felt afraid to venture forth. And I was particu-
larly unhappy as there would have been no occasion to do this, had I
received the kindly consideration of a relative with whom I was
stopping.
As I put on my hat and cloak I cried a little. Suddenly I felt
the presence of some one near me and Larry’s voice said quite
audibly, “ I’ll go with you, little sister."
Instantly, the fear left my heart ; and I went out of the house and
down the road just like a child, knowing that he was with me.
As I walked along an auto whized by so close that it grazed my
dress and although it had given no warning sound, it did not frighten
me at all.
I reached the Post Office and mailed a few letters, paying for the
stamps with a five dollar bill. Being in a hurry I thrust my change
into my pocket-book without counting it. I then walked home with
the same joyous feeling. As I entered the lane that leads to the
house, an arm unseen linked itself into mine and my brother said in
in his own boyish way, “ Under the wire ! Now give Bessie back her
dollar and you’ll be all right.”
I laughed outright. Give Bessie back her dollar ? ’’ I said quite
mystified.
“ Y-e-s," he said, in his old bantering tone, pretending that I knew
all about it and intended purposely to keep it.
I went into the house and removing my wraps sat down and
counted my change. I had just one dollar too much. Therefore I
knew that Bessie, the clerk in the Post Office, had given me that
amount over my right change.
I dispatched a messenger with the dollar and a note to her stating
256 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the fact. Upon making up her account later, she found that I was
correct.
I would like to describe the voices that speak to me : although I
am conscious at that time of a near presence, the voice seems to come
over a ’phone. It is exactly as though I had placed a receiver to my
ear. And always with the voice comes a calm unspeakable.
In concluding my report I wish to thank you for your patience
in reviewing it.
Very truly,
(Mrs.) Annie A. West.
The letter from which the foregoing extracts are taken was
accidentally misfiled, and not discovered and hence not answered
for more than a year. On July 17, 1918, I wrote in the name of
Dr. Hyslop, not giving my own, and asked a number of ques-
tions. Only two of these are at all important for our present
purpose, the one inquiring about her health, and the other asking
what experiences she had had since the last writing. It proved
that she had recovered from incipient tuberculosis and, apart
from having a slight spinal curvature, was now well. An extract
from her reply of August 27, 1918, follows:
Raf>s.
I have other witnesses whose names and addresses I am enclos-
ing who will corroborate the fact that I told them of my psychic
experiences. <!
One of these is my brother, Mr. R. W. Gordon [pseudonym],
Pacific St., Brooklyn. My brother is a retired policeman, and very
practical. Although not interested in psychic phenomena his faith
in me made him credulous. And I will relate an experience which
occurred two years ago while he and I were alone.
We were occupying a small cottage on my sister’s estate and every
evening we played cribbage until quite late. One night, it was in-
tensely cold and I had drawn in the heavy shutters and fastened
them down. It was a still cold but had there been a gale blowing, it
could not have rattled the shutters. The ground was thickly covered
with ice and snow so that had any one approached they would have
been heard and some trace of their feet would have been seen.
We finished our game and my brother commenced to talk of the
The Case of Mrs. West.
257
war. In the course of the conversation he said that we would surely
win, and as one of his reasons he mentioned one of our latest in-
ventions— a most destructive gun. I looked at him earnestly and
said impressively, calling him by name, “ As long as the mind can
conceive another's destruction there never can be peace." As I con-
cluded this remark, there were three, loud distinct raps on the shutter.
My brother turned very pale but immediately jumped up and
opened the door. Not a soul was in sight. Neither was there a foot
print anywhere near. He came back and said solemnly, “ I am con-
vinced beyond a doubt, of spirit communication."
The brother afterward corroborated this incident as follows :
St., Brooklyn, Nov. 13th, 1918.
“ Dear Sir:
“ At the request of my sister, Mrs. A. A. West, I write this ac-
count of an incident that happened on a night during the winter of
1917, at , N. Y. where we were then residing.
“ Mrs. Wood and I seated at a table in the bungalow which we
occupied engaged in playing cribbage, had alternated our card play-
ing with conversation concerning the war between Germany and the
Allies, and in reply to a reference on my part to a gun of which I had
been previously reading, an American invention, calculated to bring
victory to the allied cause, my sister had just completed saying, “ As
long as the mind can conceive another’s destruction there never can
be peace,’ when there came three (3) distinct raps upon the panel
of the wooden shutter outside the window to the room in which we
were seated and which my sister had previously closed in and
fastened.
“ Investigation failed to prove that any person had approached the
window from the outside as the ground, covered with snow, had in
no manner been disturbed and no tree, or bush, stood sufficiently
close to the bungalow to justify the explanation that a branch blown
by the wind had caused the sounds, it being a calm, still night. * * *
Most respectfully,
R. W. Gordon."
Mrs. West also stated in her letter of Aug. 27 that she had
contributed some articles to a small magazine entitled The Hu-
258 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
inanitarian, and in connection with this had lately an impression
which she believed a valid one.
Supposed premonition in regard to literary work.
“ Although I have been a regular contributor to the Humanitarian
and have a quantity of work with them now, I have been told by
the spirit world that I will have nothing more published until Feb-
ruary, when I will be guided by a very wise spirit in writing for a
magazine about twelve by twelve inches square and which is light
green in color and has a wide circulation.
Mrs. West wrote to the editor of the magazine named and. in
her own language, “ told him that I had been in formed that my
work would not be available until February, and asked him if
there was any reason for it.” This shows her confidence in. her
own impressions, but, seeing that she did not say how she had
been informed, was calculated to mystify the editor, who had not
so informed her. He responded thus, in a letter whose original
is before me :
Aug. 30, 1918.
Mrs. A. A. West, , N. Y.
Dear Mrs. West:
We are returning to you herewith your poem “ The Mothers of
Men ” in accordance with your communication of the 22nd inst. At
the same time, there is enclosed your poem, “ How I love you,” which
we are sorry to say is unavailable for the columns of the magazine.
Upon looking over the correspondence on file in the Editorial
Department we have not been able to find any reference to an asser-
tion on our part that no work of yours would be available until Feb-
ruary. We are therefore unable to answer your question as to the
reason for this.
We thank you for the privilege of reading the manuscripts.
Sincerely yours,
The Humanitarian Pub. Co., Inc.,
By A. Gideon.
It is evident from the above that Mrs. West’s last efforts were
rejected by the magazine, and she stated that she continued to
The Case of Mrs. West.
259
send contributions and that they failed to appear, although earlier
efforts had been accepted. But, to be faithful to the terms in
which Mrs. West had previously announced her premonitory im-
pression. there was no assurance that anything of hers would be
printed in The Humanitarian of February, but a promise that she
would then begin writing for another magazine, described as
about a foot square, green in color, and having a large circulation.
The letter of August 17th showed that Mrs. West was then
seeking a particular employment, which she did not obtain. In
September she went to live with her brother in Brooklyn, and a
letter written November 5th stated that she had enlisted in the
service of the government at the Fleet Supply Base in that bor-
ough. Feb. 17th, 1919, the lady stated, “I wrote a poem and
sent it in and by a strange coincidence it fell into the hands of the
Commandant, who informed me that it was high class and de-
served recognition.” She added that she had been engaged to
write for the magazine, which it appears was started in the Base
that month and which was called Base Notes. A number of the
early issues were sent to the Society, containing articles in prose
and verse by Mrs. West, who continued to contribute to it for
months, if not up to the time when she, together with many
others, left the service in May, 1920. The magazine at first was
about 101A by 7Y\, later 10 by 8, therefore not so large nor of
the shape prophesied, nor was the cover green, though it was
partly of that color in October and November. What remains is
simply that a magazine was started in the month previously named
by an organization which at the time of her preannouncement she
had not thought nor had prospect of joining, and that then and
therein her literary efforts again began to appear. The magazine,
intended only for the several thousand workers in the Base, had
a large circulation among them, though not large by ordinary
standards.
Supposed Premonition Relating to Iron-Holders.
This is not worth giving in extenso. But samples of her
fallacious impressions, together with simply unevidential ones
and slightly evidential ones, must be given, as well as those which
were evidential to a high degree, if we are to make a proper
study of the case of Mrs. West.
260 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
On August 17th, 1918, before she had moved to the city, the
lady wrote :
I received word from the Red Cross last week that I have been
endorsed by them for this position and I hoped to be called very soon.
After receiving this information I had a vision in which my
mother appeared to me and said, “ If I were you, I would go to work
in the factory making iron-holders."
As she spoke I seemed to know that she meant a factory on
Pacific Street, Brooklyn.
I turned to her indignantly and replied, “ I will not bend my back
over a machine again ! ”
A look of great sorrow crossed her face and she looked down at
the ground. The vision faded.
I am so impressed with the import of it however, that today I am
writing my brother to ascertain from him if there are any factories
on Pacific Street and particularly if there is one making iron-holders.
The brother was unable to locate the factory. Mrs. West
wrote, Sept. 16th, that she had accepted her brother’s invitation
to live with him and was going to try to find the factory. Her
letter of November 5th states that one day she found some iron-
holders at Woolworth's on Flatbush Avenue, but they were not
of buff material like that of men's underwear, but that a week
later she was surprised to find iron-holders of exactly that descrip-
tion. Her description of the vision sent the Society had not in-
cluded these particulars, but on my reminding her of this fact her
brother sent a definite statement that she had mentioned them to
him months before. There were also given the addresses of three
ladies to whom the same details had been related. After the dis-
covery of iron-holders of this description, inquiry developed the
fact that they were made at a particular address on 125th Street,
New York. But this was not Pacific Street, nor did the lady
obtain employment there, though she tried to do so, rather un-
wisely seeing that she did not feel inclined to do this kind of
work. Therefore the incident is hardly an impressive one on the
score of evidentially. But there is sense in the following, written
November 17th:
The Case of Mrs. West.
261
There was no antecedent reason why iron-holders should have
entered my mind. My mind at the time was engrossed with the
thought of taking a position as correspondent at Camp Merritt, and I
almost doubted that I heard my mother aright. For I reasoned they
are only used with the old style irons and any housewife could make
them.
Impressions About a Man in the Office of the A. S. P. R.
In the letter of November 17th occurred the following pas-
sage, written, as Mrs. West supposed, to Dr. Hyslop, whose name
I had thus far signed in my letters :
At the expense of boring you, may I ask one more question and
then I will desist. Who is the man connected with the Psychical
Research Society who answers this description : medium height, blue
eyes, brown hair, and a very gentle voice and manner? He is pe-
culiarly sensitive, so that were he a doctor he would shrink from per-
forming an operation but he would delight in giving an anaesthetic.
He loves children, but they embarrass him. He loves music but left
alone with his own thoughts is greater pleasure — for “ his mind to
him a kingdom is.” I see him a great deal and he talks to a man
whom he calls “ Doctor.” The last time I saw him, I was in a great
deal of mental distress and some force told me it was January. I
was weeping bitterly and he said very solicitously, “ How are you
going to treat her, Doctor ? ”
And the Doctor replied, “ By suggestion — make her think she is
well and happy.”
This was written after the lady had taken up her residence in
Brooklyn. Consequently, though my after familiar acquaintance
with her ways of getting and dealing with her psychical experi-
ence gives me personal confidence that she did not depend upon
and did not have normal information, it is apparent that it would
not have been difficult to learn my physical description, so this
part of her remarks must be regarded as non-evidential. Nor was
the person described positively declared to be me. Nevertheless, I
correspond fairly well to the description, as I admitted in my
reply to which, for the first time, I signed my own name. I am
of medium height, five feet and seven inches, my eyes are dark
262 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
blue, my hair medium brown, and my voice and manner are said
to be gentle and soothing to psychical subjects and to patients,
though I am capable of being bluff and stern to insolent people,
dead-beats and frauds. Of course my title is “ Doctor.” Dr.
Hyslop was about five feet nine inches tall, his eyes gray, his hair
very dark, and his voice and manner not such, perhaps, as would
be described by the word “ gentle." Supposing that the descrip-
tion thus far were meant for me, whether or not the word 11 gen-
tle ” applied, the particulars could easily have been learned.
But the sentence “ He is peculiarly sensitive, so that were he
a doctor he would shrink from performing an operation, but he
would delight in giving an anaesthetic,” states facts curiously true
of me, and which I am sure that only my wife and possibly my
foster daughter knew. I can hardly bear to extract a splinter
from the hand of another, though stoical enough in removing one
from my own hand. I could never bear to perform an operation,
but have willingly administered ether to a man in an emergency
operation, and have witnessed a great many major and minor
operations with interest. And the sentence, “ He loves children,
but they embarrass him,” is astonishingly and peculiarly appro-
priate. I f I can once get thoroughly acquainted with an interest-
ing child I adore it, and I feel an interest in children, but they
embarrass me — that is just the word — I had as soon take a
whipping as attempt to entertain a group of children, and I fairly
run away from a baby. This was emphatically not the case with
Dr. Hyslop, and I think it is not the case with many men to the
extent that it is with me. This peculiarity is probably the result
of a complex formed at the death of a baby brother when I was a
boy, after which for years I could not bear to look at a baby, my
grief was so poignant. I have never talked about the peculiarity,
and only my wife and daughter knew I had it.
The clause “ the last time I saw him,” is a characteristic ex-
pression of Mrs. West in referring to her visions. The expres-
sion “ by suggestion," referred to the other “ Doctor,” is perti-
nent in reference to Dr. Hyslop (as it would have been to me),
since he sometimes employed suggestion upon persons who needed
it, though he never did upon Mrs. West, whom he did not see up
to the time of his death. It will be noted that the impression of
“ January ” also was received. When the eighteenth of the fol-
The Case of Mrs. IVest. 263
lowing January arrived, a letter in response to mine was written
which said, in part :
“ Your letter came at an opportune time — I was wretchedly ill.
Being alone at the time I was stricken, I fainted and crashed into a
radiator, bruising my face past recognition. I’m sitting up now, but
am in a weak, weepy stage, just as I was when I met you and
Dr. Hyslop [I had written her and told of the correspondences, and
she now adopts the identifications suggested as possible] and you
asked him how he was going to treat me. And I rather think I like
his suggestion that I am well and happy. So the prophecy concern-
ing January was true after all.”
Unfortunately the press of work was such that I failed to ask
for corroboration of the fact of illness.
Possible Clairvoyance.
In November, 1918, Mrs. West wrote asking me if anything
strange had happened to me about ten days earlier which related
to her, and added that she at that time had had an experience that
was connected with me. I replied cautiously that nine or ten days
previously, I could not be sure which, I had experienced something
which was unusual with me and which might possibly relate to
her, but that I wished her to relate her experience first. She re-
plied stating that at the time referred to she had seen me very
vividly and that I had seemed to see her. The fact was that at or
about the specified date a mental picture of a woman began to be
presented as though forcibly pushed into my mind, and the same
appeared again and again for several days. I knew no possible
stimulus for the phenomenon, which in consequence interested me
considerably, though it never occurred to me to connect it with
Mrs. West. Nor do I know that it was connected with her, but
note the queer fact and the coincidence. I added that the woman
reminded me of an old schoolmate, long dead, and that she seemed
to have a pleasant smile, to be slender and I would think rather
tall, with hair of a reddish color worn low over her ears but flat
to her head. The fact was, as I was told and afterward learned
by observation, that Mrs. West had a smile, when she did smile,
verv like what I mentally saw, that her hair was worn precisely
264 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
as described, and that she was slender. But the hair was darker,
though with a copper glint, she was not tall, and the face was not
convincingly similar. Still, it was odd, despite that the descrip-
tion only in part fitted Mrs. West that, just about the time when
she had a vision of me seeming to see her, I should have begun to
have the quite novel experience of mentally seeing a woman,
which picture appeared again and again, though not in the least
exteriorized, during the course of several days.
Vision of the Desk and Drawer.
The lady wrote me on December 10th, 1918:
“ What do you keep in the lower left hand drawer of that pol-
ished, flat, oaken desk which stands near but not close to the end of
the room.”
When I read this I considered the three desks in the office.
One was “ polished, flat, oaken,” but stood against the end of a
room and did not belong to nor concern me, nor did the contents
of the lower left hand drawer. Another was “ polished and
oaken,” but it was not flat; it stood against the end of the room,
and was not mine, nor did what was in the lower left hand drawer
connect with me. The third was my desk, and was polished oak
and near though not against the end of the room, but it was not
flat and there was no reason why the lower left hand drawer
should be singled out as significant. I therefore replied saying
that I did not detect any relevance to me in the question. As
soon as the letter was sent I remembered that I had a desk in my
home, and indeed the lady had not intimated that the desk was in
the office of the Society. I mentally went over the particulars.
Yes, this desk was flat, polished, oaken, stood near but not against
the end of the room (it stood against the side of the room, but I
had no right, strictly, to bring up a particular not mentioned) and
— out of forty-eight drawers in my study, the lower left hand one
of that desk is the only one whose contents are of peculiar signifi-
cance, sacred to the drawer, and will always there remain. That
was the drawer owned by the ** Margaret ” secondary personality
in the Doris Case, who, before she was banished asked me to keep
her things there always. There is a mention of her drawer in
The Case of Mrs. West.
265
my Report, but not of which drawer it was. Nor did more than
a very small family group know that the things were there and
the drawer dedicated to them. It is highly improbable that Mrs.
West had ever seen this report, and she declares that she had not,
but even if she had it does not contain information for the pre-
cise statement in any of its parts.
I wrote, telling the lady that what she had said proved to be
strikingly relevant to the specified drawer in my desk at home, but
gave her no indication as to the contents of the drawer, or their
history, nor did I give any clue whatever. Let it be understood
that I pursued the uniform rule to give no details regarding the
subject matter of her impressions beyond those that were already
stated by her, and no information except that of an inferential
sort inseparable from the fact of writing letters at all. Further-
more, a carbon copy of every letter sent out was preserved, and
the reader may be positively assured that no incident herein pre-
sented as in any degree an evidential one would be illumined were
all my letters printed in full, as of course is impracticable. To re-
sume, the reply of Mrs. West added this particular :
“ When I enter the room where the desk is (it will be understood
that a ‘ clairvoyant ’ entrance is meant) I feel as though it ought to
be pulled out into the middle of the floor.”
It happens to be a fact that, from the time that Doris lived
with us up to the night when “ Margaret ” vanished, that desk, in
two different houses, was placed in the middle of the floor. And
this fact is not mentioned in the Doris Report. The two houses
are 400 and 2500 miles, respectively, from New York City. No
one but the three members of the family knew the fact in regard
to both houses, none others within hundreds of miles knew it in
regard to either. Surely no one would consider the position of a
desk in a room in my house important enough to talk about, and
it is wholly improbable that Mrs. West had had intercourse with
any person who knew my family during residence in distant
cities. It certainly was not remarkable that the desk was in the
middle of two floors successively, and it was not remarkable that
at the time of the letters it was not, but the correct grouping of
these facts with the far more important mention of a particular
drawer is remarkable.
266 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
Title of a Composition Announced.
In response to her previous statement that I was very fond of
music I had written Mrs. West that I was to some extent a per-
former on the piano. In December — the day does not appear —
there came a letter saying “ What about that musical composition
entitled * The Dream Girl,’ which you began but never finished? "
This little sentence was about the most astonishing one in any
of the letters. The facts were these. A few weeks previously,
something I read put it into my head to test whether my old
faculty for stringing verses, unexercised for a long period, was
still intact. Without any outer occasion for it, and purely as a
tour de force, I wrote one verse, composed another which never
got set down and which I afterward forgot, and there stopped, so
that the poem, if such it was, is unfinished still. And the title
was word for word as Mrs. West gave it, “ The Dream Girl.”
Scarcely any verses of mine have ever been printed under my own
name, and none have been under any name for twenty years. I
told no one about the uncompleted attempt or its title. The only
error in Mrs. West's sentence was in calling the uncompleted
composition a musical one, but it is a fact, curious in this con-
nection, that when I compose verses there is usually some musical
theme running in my consciousness.
The Journey and the Guarded Case.
In the beginning of March, 1919, I notified Mrs. West that I
should be away several days as an excuse for deferring com-
plete answer to a letter, but carefully abstained from giving any
hint where, in what direction or what for. The beginning of her
letter of March 17th is as follows:
Dear Doctor:
You have baffled me. How is it that in going away you came
nearer to me? And what were you doing on the state road? And
why did you guard that case so jealously — the one with the green
leather binding? I am sorry you were so perturbed on the evening
of the eighth inst. but glad to see you quite recovered and happy on
the thirteenth.
The Case of Mrs. West.
26 7
Probably by “ you come nearer to me " she meant that sne
again thought she saw me clairvoyantly.
Here is the whole of my reply to this paragraph of her letter :
March 20, 1919.
My dear Mrs. West :
I will answer your letter in the order of its contents. The im-
pressions recorded therein are not all intelligible to me. I do not
know the meaning of the reference to the “ State road ” in reference
to me. Perhaps it was a subliminal reflection from your knowing
that I was going — but come to think of it, you did not know, for I
see that I did not tell you, so it may be a reference to the fact that I
went to the great place of state, the Capital of the United States,
Washington City. I did not have a case with green leather binding,
but I did carry a small case or box, about four by three inches, which
was green at both ends in a way that might have suggested a bind-
ing ; the box contained a large magnifying glass without rim, and I
guarded it very carefully indeed, the more because it did not belong
to me. This may be related to your impression. Nor was I perturbed
on the night of the 8th, and recovered on the 13th exactly, but it is
true that it was on the 8th that it was decided that I should go to
Washington on an important errand, and one that was agreeable
enough, and it is true that my work there was finished on the 13th at
about 5 P. M. previous to which hour I had labored at it almost in-
cessantly from my arrival on Tuesday the 11th.
I will add that the reference to “ the great place of State ” as
an interpretation does not and did not have much weight in my
mind, but I usually give a psychic the full benefit of possibilities,
when dealing with them personally, as they seem to get better
results when in a satisfied frame of mind. But in one respect I
understated the favorable facts, for on the evening of the 8th the
investigation for which I took the journey actually began, and
I then began to be in a studious and absorbed state of mind,
though not “perturbed." The case containing the magnifying
glass was an object of much solicitude, for fear the fragile article
should get broken.
If the correspondence between the statements and the facts
are worth noting, it should be noted also that there was no pos-
268 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
sible way in which the facts could have been normally imparted,
other than it might have been inferred from my letter that I
should start on the journey about the 8th. I did not myself know
how long I should be gone. This is the only journey on which
I ever carried this glass or its case.
(To be concluded in the June issue.)
>0*1
Incidents.
269
INCIDENTS.
INCIDENT OF THE EAR-RING.
Reported by W. H. Rucker.
Document /. Letter by Mr. W. H. Rucker, Itta Bena, Miss., to the
Principal Research Officer of the A. S. P. R.
October 24, 1921.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
American Society for Psychical Research,
New York, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
Would an incident like this be of any value to you (you have so
much of such, doubtless) ?
A lady across the street from us related that some years ago
when she was a young lady a relative gave her a pair of ear-rings, of
which she was very fond. She loaned them to a sister about her
own age, who became attached to them and would not give them up.
Finding the sister asleep one day she secured one of the rings from
the ear exposed, after which the sister became very indignant and
hid the other ring. She searched for it some weeks, being satisfied
it was hidden in their room. One day she was napping after noon
and dreamed apparently she saw the ring concealed under the wall
p>aper just over her room door, wrapped in a piece of brown tissue
paper, it all being very vivid to her, so she awakened, feeling as
though some one had been in the room, rather uncanny feeling, and
whisp>ered it to her, and felt frightened. But rising she looked over
the door facing, under the wall paper, and pulled out the ring in a
piece of brown paper just as dreamed. She then thought her sister
may have relented and told her about the ring while she was asleep,
but the sister indignantly denied this. I questioned the lady par-
ticularly and she adheres to details as I have given: I am aware
Hudson, Podmore and others would attribute this to telepathy,
which, however, they seem to use to cover some wonderful mental
phenomena.
Yours truly,
W. H. Rucker.
270 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Nov. IS, 1921.
Document z.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd Street,
New York, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
Herewith I hand you statement of Mrs. Annie H. Hunter. I
have questioned her very closely and she insists the incident occurred
as related. Of her honesty I have no question, and I do not see how
she could be in error as to the main facts, at least. I have known
her and her family well for many years. As for myself, I am a
native of Tennessee, spent my boyhood in Alabama, from which I
attended the Indiana State University, from which I was graduated
in Dr. David Starr Jordan’s first class, as college president. I hold
both bachelor and master’s degree from the Indiana University. I
am here, I think, considered a fairly successful business man, and
think I am a pretty good judge of human nature. I feel I can rely
on Mrs. Hunter’s statement, or I would not report it. I do so only
in the interest of your scientific researches.
Yours truly,
W. H. Rucker.
Itta Bena, Miss., Nov. 15, 1921.
Document J.
Mr. W. H. Rucker,
City.
Dear Sir :
In response to your request, I make you the following statement :
I have lived in Itta Bena some fifteen years, where my husband
is a merchant. We have been married twenty years, have two chil-
dren living, three dead. I am a member of the Presbyterian church,
and am much opposed to all spiritualism. Previous to coming to
Itta Bena we lived in an adjoining county, in which I was reared.
When I was a girl some 17 years of age, at my father’s country home
near Vaiden, Miss., I had given me a pretty pair of earrings, of
which I was very fond. One day I loaned them to a sister a little
older than myself and, when I called for them, she would not give
them up, as she wanted to keep them for another occasion. So, find-
Incidents.
271
ing her asleep one day with one earring exposed, I succeeded in get-
ting it before she awoke, but she refused to let me have the other,
and, fearing I might get it, as on the previous occasion, she hid it.
J begged her repeatedly to get it for me, but she refused and I
searched in every conceivable place for it, without success. One
afternoon, leaving my sister above named reading in a room across
the house I lay down to take a nap in my bed room. After some time
I was awakened as if by some one whispering to me that I would
find the earring concealed in a piece of tissue paper, tucked under
the edge of the wall paper over my room door facing. The vividness
of the dream, as I suppose it was, awakened me with a start, and I
felt an uncanny feeling and was frightened, as if some one had
spoken to me from a mysterious source, but looking all around I
could see no one at all. Thinking my sister might have been playing
a joke on me in my sleep, I looked under the bed to see if she were
hidden there, and, not finding her, I got up in a chair and looked
along the wall paper just over our door facing, and sure enough
pulled out the earrring wrapped in a piece of tissue paper, just as it
seemingly had been whispered to me in my sleep. Putting it in my
ear and thinking still my sister may have told me where to find it in
my sleep, I went into the room where she was reading and asked
her if she had told me where to find the ring in my sleep, to which she
indignantly replied : “ No, I did not, and will not until you give me
back the one you took from my ear.”
I know nothing of your so-called psychic research, but I have
related the incident to you just as it occurred, as I remember it all
distinctly.
Yours very truly,
(Mrs.) Annee H. Hunter.
Document 4.
Questions addressed to Mrs. Hunter by the Research Officer,
Nov. 18, 1921.
( 1 ) Can you give the approximate date of the dream ?
(2) Have you had any other dreams which you had reason to
think significant in a similar fashion? If so, please give me the data.
(3) Was this dream, or was it not, of peculiar vividness?
(4) Was there anything different in emotional quality from your
272 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
usual dreams? Do you remember this point? If so, and it was so
marked, please say how.
(5) Is your sister living ?
(6) If so, could she be interrogated as to whether she remembers
anything about the incident ?
(7) Have you had other experiences, aside from dreams, which
seemed to you peculiar in something of the same sense ?
(8) Had you ever known your sister or any other member of the
family to conceal an object in the place above the door, or in any
other place that could possibly suggest to you that this spot might
be used?
(9) Did you ever learn whether you were in the room (possibly
asleep or otherwise engaged), when your sister concealed the ear-
ring?
( 10) Have you ever had any other feeling, asleep or awake, that
some one was whispering to you ?
Document $.
Itta Bena, Miss., Dec. 7, 1921.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
New York, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
Replying by number to your series of ten inquiries dated
Nov. 18th :
1. In the summer of 1895, 1 think it was.
2. No, it is very rare that I have any dreams whatever.
3. Yes, it was very vivid.
4. Yes, I remember distinctly, it caused me to awaken and feel
as if some one had spoken to me, telling me where to find the ear-
ring. It seemed more real than other dreams.
5. Yes.
6. I will try to get a statement from her as to her memory about
the incident.
7. No, except recently when I had lost a diamond from my ring
and had a tip from a so-called mind reader it seemed to be lost in a
building, something seemed to say to me “ look under that heap of
rubbish,” which I did and found the diamond.
8. No.
>0*71
Incidents.
273
9. No, I never learned anything to suggest my sister hid the ear-
ring while I was in the room, awake or asleep.
10. No, except as related above.
Very respectfully,
Mrs. Annee H. Hunter.
Document 6.
Dec. 10, 1921.
To the Sister of Mrs. Annee H. Hunter.
Dear Madam :
I have received a very interesting account of an incident relating
to an ear-ring, which many years ago you secreted in a certain place,
and which your sister in a singular manner discovered.
The value of this incident, whether for telepathy (thought read-
ing) or any other theory, will be very much enhanced if you recol-
lect it and will frankly relate what you recollect about it.
It may be that you have forgotten it; it may be that you remem-
ber it only in part. Of course you cannot be expected to say any-
thing further than what you recollect. Assuming that you remember
it in full, I ask for the following points to be covered. Any which
you do not remember, or remember but not clearly, please state ac-
cordingly. I want to know just what details you are sure of, what
you think are so-and-so, and what you do not feel any certainty about
because you do not remember them at all.
1. The date of the incident, as nearly as you can fix it.
2. Your story of the concealment of the ring.
3. Whether there was any way by which, so far as you can judge,
your sister could have normally learned about the place.
4. Did you sleep in the same room with your sister, and, if so, did
you ever talk in your sleep ?
5. Had you ever concealed anything in the same place before?
6. If so, was your sister aware of the fact?
7. Your account of your learning that your sister had found the
ring, and how you felt (whether surprised, etc.) and what you said.
8. Anything else which can shed any possible light upon the
incident.
No names in connection with the incident will be revealed.
274 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Trusting that you will answer these questions fully as your
memory serves you, I am,
Sincerely,
Walter F. Prince.
Document 7.
Jan. 13. 1922.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
New York, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of Dec. 10, was presented to me by Mr. W. H.
Rucker and the questions each given separate attention.
Replying to the questions by number:
1 and 2. Some months previous to my marriage, which occurred
in June, 1898, my sister, now Mrs. Anna Hunter of this city, loaned
me her earrings, and I would not give them back to her when she
wanted them, as I wished to keep them for a party in the community
to come off soon. I remember, however, she got one of the rings
from my ear while I was asleep, and I hid the other over the door
facing in our bedroom, wrapping it in a piece of paper and tucking
it under the wall paper just over the door. Naturally I was careful
not to tell her about it.
3. I cannot conceive of any normal way in which my sister could
have learned of this.
4. We slept in the same room, but I have never been in the habit
of talking in my sleep, as far as I have known.
5. No, I do not remember of ever hiding anything in that place
before, I am confident I did not, it would not be a place where
things would be hidden usually.
6. Neither I nor my sister can remember of ever having hidden
anything in that place before or afterward. I would not have hidden
the earring in a place where my sister would have suspected it, as I
did not at all wish her to find it, being provoked in the way she got
the other one.
7. Remember my sister coming to me with the earring, after she
had found it, and her telling me she had had a dream which revealed
its hiding place. I was naturally surprised, and was confident at the
time, as I am now, she could not have learned it from me in any
way. I supposed she dreamed of the place where the ring was. I
Incidents.
275
have not investigated such matters, but have supposed it was possible
for people to have things revealed to them in dreams. I am not able
to understand how else my sister learned where I had hidden the
earring.
Respectfully,
Mrs. JefeiE C lower.
Goobi
276 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
CORRESPONDENCE.
SOME EXPERIMENTS IN TELEPATHY.
A Letter by the Rev. G. H. Smith, D.D. (1)
To the Editor of the Journal of the A. S. P. R.
I suppose that a good many men have been in the same attitude
with reference to telepathy that I was in for years. I was satisfied
that there was some truth in it but did not know just how much.
This letter will attempt to show that there is a reality to thought
transference and that in all probability it is of every day occurrence
and that while we are at the merest beginning of the study, enough is
already known to warrant a thorough scientific investigation of this
strange phenomenon.
May I say at the beginning that I have no doubt but that what
has often passed for clairvoyance or even Spirit manifestation can be
better explained by telepathy. (2)
Let me give three incidents about which the fact of telepathy may
help to explain, and there are many like them. (3)
(1) Bishop Talbot relates in, “ My People of the Plains," p. 85,
that on a dark night, when attempting to ford the Clearwater, that
1. The following letter is printed because it is an example of the earn-
est strivings of intelligent men to understand certain phenomena which press
upon the attention of the race. It also affords an opportunity to suggest
methods of improving the experiments which we wish might be multiplied
at the hands of persons as intelligent as our correspondent, and also to
suggest that such persons consult the best literature of the kind of experi-
ments which they are to undertake. In the case of experimentation for
telepathy, it is advisable to become familiar with the classic series recorded
in several authoritative works and collections, and particularly in the Journals
and Proceedings of the English Society for Psychical Research. Many of
these series were carried out with the greatest pains as to the prevailing
conditions and the accuracy and detail of recording, and seem to demonstrate,
beyond the possibility of mistake, that in accordance with arrangements which
allow no normal leakage, coincidences beyond the reach of chance occur in the
mental imagery and other ideation of particular agents and recipients.
2. It would be preferable to say “better classified as telepathy.” The
hypothesis of telepathy is an explanation only to a very limited degree.
The word is simply a name to designate observed parallels in the thoughts of
two persons, which parallels are not due to normal communication, and which
are beyond chance. The process by which such results are brought about is
quite unknown.
3. The first of the three following incidents deserves mention despite the
fact that it is uncorroborated or otherwise attested, simply because of the
character and reputation of the writer. The same can be said of the second.
Correspondence. 2 77
his horses missed the ford, and were within a little of plunging into
the main current, where almost certain death awaited him. That
night his wife living in Missouri, and his daughter attending school
in Pennsylvania, both were awakened out of sleep by a startling
dream to the effect that he was drowning.
(2) In the History of the Methodist Episcopal Church by Abel
Stevens it is recorded, in Vol. I, p. 96, that Richard Boardman, Mr.
Wesley’s first missionary to America, in trying to reach an appoint-
ment at Parkgate, Wales, was caught by the incoming tide, and would
certainly have perished had not a man who had been awakened by a
startling dream come in a boat to his rescue.
(3) A man whose veracity I have no reason to question related
to me that once, upon a holiday, when he was resting in a park which
surrounds the reservoir of his town, suddenly, a vision of his wife
appeared, excited and gesticulating as if something had happened
down in the city. He fairly flew down to his home where he found
that his son, ten years of age, who had been bom ten years ago, when
his wife had died, had fallen out of a wagon, and had injured his
skull so seriously, that soon after he died. The man up to that time
had been a communicant in a Christian church but through that his
only experience of that sort he ever afterwards professed to be a
spiritualist. I believe that telepathy rather than spirits will account
for such incidents as these.
Of the famous Mrs. Piper, who was exploited for a time as a
spiritualistic medium, Andrew Lang said that she attributes her re-
markable guesses to telepathy, and that he believes she is right in
this. (4)
provided that the statement is quoted directly from Richard Boardman, and
not related by somebody who heard it related by someone else who says
that Mr. Boardman told the story. The third incident, since it relates to a
living man, should have been given in his own language, and if possible
should have been corroborated by other testimony. This is not a criticism
of the inclusion of the incident which serves our correspondent's purpose,
but is a reminder of the extreme precautions taken by the Societies for Psy-
chical Research when they report incidents. There is no reason to doubt
the incident, as its like occurs again and again. Nor do we wish to argue
that it does not represent a case of telepathy. But it is curious that the ac-
cident of the boy should have announced itself to the father by a vision
of the boy’s mother who had died ten years previously. As the woman
died at the time of the boy’s birth, it is not likely that the fall roused in the
boy’s mind a vision of his mother, so that the emotion of fright and pain
existing in his mind at the time of the accident underwent a strange trans-
formation not easily understandable as straight telepathy.
4. Mr. Lang’s belief regarding any subject of Psychical Research is not
of extreme importance, as his beliefs seemed varied according to his moods,
perhaps depending on whether he wrote just after breakfast or just before
dinner. What is important is that the much told story that Mrs. Piper be-
278 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
In order to satisfy my own mind as to what there was in this
subject of telepathy it was my privilege to make a series of experi-
ments in Great Barrington, Mass., not with professional psychics,
spiritualistic mediums, or with abnormal characters, but with a score
or more of healthy, ordinary boys, most of them students in the
high school, and coming from respectable homes. So far as I can
judge there was no motive for any one either to exaggerate or to de-
ceive or to be deceived. (S)
At first we used hypnosis, in our experiments, but we found that
much evidence for telepathy could be produced without resorting to
this. One of our earlier experiments was to ask a hypnotised agent
to return articles which had been gathered from the company and
out of some thirty objects there was only one returned wrong, and
that was when the owner found that he was himself mistaken. (6)
The easiest cases of mind reading is through the sense of touch.
We met a case of this kind at a summer resort where a young woman
who was unusually sensitive, and responsive, would tell what a circle
of young ladies had wished her to do they taking hands and wishing
and she joining hands with them, until she divined their wish.
Charles Bishop (7) used to find hidden articles by holding the hand
of the one who did the hiding and following the slight unconscious
muscular action. (8) Several of our boys could succeed in this with
almost absolute certainty.
Another form of mind reading was for a good percipient to hold
the hand of a companion and divulge what was in his pockets often
telling the exact location as well as the article.
The interest was due to the odd articles which the subject would
find such as a nail clipper, drinking cup, a second knife, letters and
other memoranda. On one occasion a young man held something
tightly in his hand and defied the percipient to tell what it was. He
took the other hand in his and replied : “ It is like a pencil with
lieves her results due to telepathy is not true. She neither believes this now
nor did she ever believe it. The fact is that many years ago a newspaper
reporter misquoted her.
5. Experiments of this kind should be carried on in such a way that
they will defy any motive on the part of any of the participants to exag-
gerate, deceive or be deceived.
6. Unfortunately no account is here given of the precautions which were
taken or of the methods which were employed in conducting these hypnotic
experiments.
7. The name here should be Washington Irving Bishop.
8. " Muscle Reading ” has been discussed again and again in the litera-
ture of Psychical Research and is no longer regarded as belonging within
the field of telepathy. It is well known that any person of ordinary sensitive-
ness or perception may by practice attain some degree of skill, being per-
fectly conscious of the method by which he produces his successes.
Correspondence.
279
something like a penny on the end of it." The man said “ That is not
correct,’’ the medium repeated the description over again and when
the hand was opened, it contained three cartridges. I consider the
description of a cartridge as perfect as an ordinary youth could
give. (9)
We also tried to discover telepathy by having three persons write
what they wished the percipient to do, and after sealing their wish
in an envelope, and then sitting down, while the percipient tries to
make out, what is wanted, all holding a chain. On one occasion the
three sealed envelopes were given to a school principal. A little
Irish boy sat down with three ladies, who had done the writing, soon
the lad was seen leading the three ladies down one of the aisles
where he found the ladies [sic] chatelaine bag and brought it forward,
and placed it on the piano. The secretary of the meeting declared that
that was exactly what the writing called for. ( 10) The next action
was to strike a note upon the piano and the third was to stand up
and turn around. Each stint was pronounced correctly accomplished.
This was before a Woman’s Club. Before a boys’ school we used
a piece of wire instead of a gold chain, but the results were as satis-
factory. We found however that there was a great difference both
in those who are receptive and in those who communicate their
thoughts. Some are no more responsive than a hitching post, others
again act and react with the sensitiveness of a galvanic battery.
We also found that thought could be conveyed readily by two or
three placing their hands on one’s head and thinking of some object
or a word or number. “ Thought-transference ” can easily be verified
by any one using a little patience. Hypnosis is not necessary
although it is a great help. However we found that levity would
vitiate any experiment. (11)
Thought transference by muscular contact we proved to be pos-
sible over and over again. (12)
9. If detailed records had been made of these experiments for naming
articles in the pockets, stating exactly what the conditions were, and giving
a table of the successes and of the failures, this series would have been of
more value. As Dr. Smith has had experiences in the past and considers the
securing of proper percipients easy, it would be well for him to renew experi-
mentation under the most precise conditions which can be devised and re-
port in the fullest detail.
10. So far as can be determined from this paragraph it relates to ex-
periments in muscle reading. It should have been specially easy to detect
unconscious resistances and yieldings when in contact with an object held
by three persons.
11. Not only levity but anger or any turbulent emotion or anything else
that prevented passive concentration would have had bad effects upon the
experiments.
12. This has been for many years beyond any question, except that the
term " thought transference ’’ is not an appropriate one.
280 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
T elepathy without contact.
The most remarkable experiments which we made were those go-
ing to show thought transference without contact of any sort. A
few years ago in England it was quite a popular amusement for
young people to have one of their number go out of the room while
the rest of the company decided that he should point out some object
or do something agreed upon. As an illustration we sent a college
boy out of the room two rooms away and decided to wish that he
should pick up a blue banner which stood in one comer of the room.
A red one stood in the opposite comer. After he had walked in
front of the audience he said I get nothing whatever and was about
to sit down when I asked him to try a little longer and in a few mo-
ments he marched to the right corner, picked up the blue banner and
presented it to the audience as though there was not the shadow of
a doubt but that he was doing the correct thing, as he was. But how
did that thought get into his head ? ( 13) Was the concept carried in
the air like sound, or was it conveyed in ether if there be such a
substance, or is the mind able to project itself so that it can reach out
beyond the confines of the body which possesses it and touch and
interpret itself to other minds? Here we have a problem for psy-
chologists to work out for us.
Now I wish to give, in as unvarnished a manner as possible, some
experiments, in thought transference, without contact of any sort
whatever. And it seems to me that any one, who accepts these illus-
trations, on their face value, will never again have any doubts about
the possibility of this sort of mental communication.
I placed a large blackboard in the middle of the room and then
seated six or seven young men in front of the board, and an equal
number behind the board, in such a manner that they could not see
the faces of those in front. Then I wrote so that those in front
could read easily: “ Think of the burning of the Slocum.” I asked
all those who could read what was written to raise their hands. All
in front responded favorably. Then I asked all who understood what
was wanted to raise their hands and one failed to respond. I asked
him if he did not know what was wanted, and he replied that he did
not. Then I asked him if he would kindly act as secretary and write
down the answers which those at the back of the board gave. And
these are their answers, taken from his minute written at the time.
1, “ Stand up and go out of doors.” Welsh.
2, “ Going to see.” [Sea.] Smith.
13. This looks like, and probably is. a good incident of telepathy. But
the statement should be a little more definite. If, for example, the banners
were placed in the two corners of the room for the purpose of the experi-
ment they would naturally attract attention, and either one or the other
would most likely be named by the percipient, as a mere inference. Proba-
bly this was not the case, but we are not so informed.
Correspondence.
281
3, “ Leaving home.” McCormack.
4, “ In a storm.” Smith.
5, “ See a man rowing a boat.” McCormack.
6, “ See a life boat.” Simmons.
7, “ Put your right hand on the floor. Pick up a child." Welsh.
8, “ Rescue in a boat.” Simmons.
9, “ Man drowning.” Smith.
10, “ People in a boat, and shipwreck at sea.” McCormack.
11, “ People drowning” (no name given). (14)
These boys who gave these answers were so far as we know all
in a perfectly normal condition. They sat with their heads down, and
I suppose their eyes were usually closed. They were in the attitude
of deep thought. (15)
After writing on the board, I gave no advice to the boys who
were to convey the message, of any sort whatever. You note that
not one of the boys said any thing about a fire. At another time,
14. There is one vital defect in the experiment here described, and that
is the fact that each boy in turn gave his impression orally, in the hear-
ing of the others. At least this is the natural inference from the description.
If the impressions had been written down by each boy the door would not
have been left open both for suggestion from one to another, and possible
unconscious suggestion from the audience. The first utterance “ Stand up
and go out doors ” cannot be said to relate itself intelligibly with the proposi-
tion “ think of the burning of the Slocum." The second utterance “ Going
to sea” looks like a suggestion from the first as though it meant going
out of doors for the purpose of seeing something, for I think it is doubt-
ful that the correction in the spelling of the word “ sea " is justified. The
utterance of the next boy “ Leaving home ” looks like another variation of
the first. None of the first four relate themselves to the thought intended
to be projected. The fifth is partly relevant, but here another difficulty
comes in. There were at least seven or eight, how many more is not
stated, in front of the blackboard who knew what was written thereon,
the more there were, and the less that they knew of the possibilities of
unintended suggestion, the more likely was it that at the first partially
relevant utterance behind the blackboard some person or persons in front
would by indistinct ejaculation, a sigh or hurried breathing of empressement
give an unintended indication which would be interpreted, consciously or
unconsciously, by the persons behind the blackboard who had not yet spoken
to indicate that the intended mark was being approached. Accordingly
five of the remaining seven utterances are relevant, and it is important
to observe that the relevance of these five increases in pretty regular suc-
cession. This is not at all what we should expect in unassisted telepathy,
and it is hard to escape from the opinion that the percipients were unin-
tentionally aided by signs from the audience.
15. It is exactly this condition which would render them the most sensi-
tive to slight sounds reaching them from the persons in front.
282 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
(Feb. 22nd, 1908.) I wrote “ Think of a prize fight ! ” The answers
given were : “ A column of smoke,” “ A man on snow shoes,” “ Man
in action,” “ Two or three men in action,” “ Sleeves rolled up, sporty
men.’’ All but the second answer were given by one man. (16)
Then I drew a picture of a round headed man making a speech
with open mouth. The answers were “ A clover leaf,” Coon with
mouth wide open,” “ A Chinaman.” In making the head I made a
good outline of a clover leaf. The other answers were certainly
pertinent. (17)
Then I wrote : " Think of a dance ! ”
The answers were, Roger : “ Flowers and grass waving .”
Tanner : “ A rock or a tower in the ocean with waves."
Roger : " A sailing boat, flag waving .”
Tanner: “ A tower.” Walcott: “ Waving wheat."
Then I wrote: “ A house afire.” (18)
These answers came quickly from one and another: “The sun
setting behind a hill,” “ People running,” “ Racing,” “ Running
toward the ocean,” “ People in bathing suits, and running pants,'
“ Skating,” " Some are falling down,” “ Battle of Bunker Hill,”
“ Getting their clothes tom,” " Mob running down street to a fire."
These were all and the only answers given. (19)
16. Here again the subject is approached progressively. The first utter-
ance “ A column of smoke ” wholly misses the mark. The second “ A man
on snow shoes” introduces the human element and might cause some in-
dication on the part of the audience in front. The next “ Man in action ”
might mean anything, but action on the part of a man suggests reaction
and “Two or three men in action" might be suggested. Now if the pleasure
of the persons in front manifested itself by rustling in the chairs, or other
sounds, the next “percipient" would know that this was not far from the
mark, hence the “ Sleeves rolled up, sporty man.” Note that we have not
yet reached any certain definition of a prize fight.
17. This very likely was an excellent test. But the narrative is al-
together too laconic.
18. There exists between the proposal “ a dance " and the answers no
impressive parallel, though in a loose way dancing may be likened to waving.
If the results in this case were pure telepathy from the persons in front,
it is hardly likely that the same variant from the true mode or motion
in a dance would be given by all. But is is perfectly possible to understand
how someone who thought that “ waving " was a beginning of approach to
what was intended to be conveyed, made some involuntary sound which
signified assent, and that this consciously or unconsciously made the fol-
lowing percipients play around that word “ wave."
19. Only one sentence in this series seems directly relevant and that
is the last one quoted. This may have been a case of true telepathy for
aught that one would wish to contend, but one relevancy in ten trials is
not so striking as a result as we frequently find in other series. What is
Correspondence.
283
Another test which I have made several times and always with
more or less success was to place four boys before a blackboard, with
their faces toward the audience, and their backs toward the board,
so that they could not see what I wrote without turning their heads
completely around. Then I simply wrote on the board and asked
the boys if they could read, like a spider, out of the back of their
heads, what I had written. I wrote the word “ Amor,” saying it was
a Latin word, and asked if all in the audience could read what I had
written.
The first boy said : The first letter is " w.” The next boy said
quite positively: The first letter is “A." The third boy said: The
first letter is “ A.” The fourth boy, Lewis Tanner, said : The word is
“ Amor.” There was a company of about forty gentlemen and ladies
looking on, but I did not ask them to do anything except to look at
the board and hear the answers. Yet there can be no doubt but that
they conveyed that word to the young man’s brain. (20)
I asked him how he found the word and he said that it came into
his mind and that is all he knew about it. (21 )
I tried also numbers and geometrical figures and they almost
always gave correct answers. I made a pyramid on the board and
the answers were, it is a triangle: and another said it is sixty de-
grees. Both were right but no one said it is a pyramid. (22)
At this gathering three persons, a physician and his wife and
another lady made a design and sealed it in an envelope and declared
that they could swear that no one, except themselves, knew what was
written and sealed within that envelope. I gave it to an hypnotized
most striking in this group is the way that the most of the percipients play
about the idea of running, which is not contained in the simple conception
" a house afire ” at alL But if someone in front when the first percipient
spoke of people running, thought that was a natural thing to do in the case
of a house afire, and gave some involuntary sign, it would account for the
coincidences which followed.
20. This unfortunately is a very inconclusive proof of telepathy as the in-
cident is stated. Judging from what we have observed of the tendency
of people to involantary acts, it would be almost inconceivable that forty
gentlemen and ladies should be facing a blackboard upon which a word was
written, with boys facing them with their backs to the word attempting to
pronounce it, and none of the audience involuntarily shape the initial
letter with their lips, and when that was pronounced continue to give in-
dications in the same way. To some this may seem incredible, but if they
will try the experiment without the audience knowing the object of it they
will probably, if at all shrewd in observation, be enlightened.
21. This was very likely true. He may have subconsciously read labial
signs on the part of the audience.
22. Such a set of experiments and successes would have had considerable
value had it been reported at once and in detail.
284 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
subject and asked him to write on the outside what was written on
the inside, and he at once drew a perfect square, about an inch in
size. And that was correct. The doctor said : “ That is clairvoy-
ance.” But I said no, it is telepathy. This sort of experiment was
repeated several times successfully. (23)
Enough has been said to show that telepathy is a fact easily tested
by any one, but there are many problems connected with it which
remain to be solved. We have read the literature upon the subject
of communications from the dead and are compelled to confess that
the evidences offered are far from being conclusive. We would not
say as much in regard to messages from the dying. (24) These can
be accounted for by telepathy. The statement made by one author
that he can by merely wishing give absent treatment even after fall-
ing asleep we regard as nonsense. In all our inferences, we ought
not to forget that the whole subject is still in the early stages of
investigation.
Ellenville, N. Y., Sept. 2, 19—.
23. AH experimenters should keep a record of a series in its entirety,
so as to be able to give every member of the series in its detail, that the whole
might be estimated mathematically. If for example the case of the square
was but one of a series, and several others of the series were failures, this
would not be a very impressive success, owing to the fact that a square
is one of the simplest and most common of figures. The actual facts may
have been, and probably were, of an impressive character. The only trouble
is that the belated report does not make it certain.
24. We have no desire to convince our correspondent that the evidences
for " communications from the dead ” are conclusive. But he should bear
in mind that most of the scientists of the schools do not regard the evidence
for telepathy as conclusive either, and some of them are rash enough to
say that it is not even impressive. Our correspondent may say that their
failure to be impressed must be due to their neglect of the evidence. And
it is equally true that some very careful scholars consider that the evidence
which does not impress our correspondent is such that only inattention or
prejudice can rob it of its weight. We should be very slow in making con-
clusions of any kind within this field of inquiry. At the same time we should
be open minded, and it is far from our intention to intimate that our cor-
respondent is not But there are clergymen who explain away every modem
example of dreams, premonitions, apparitions, etc., by adopting the arguments
of skeptical psychologists, and who fail to apply their logic to the same
classes of experiences related in the New Testament Perhaps their skepti-
cism regarding and supernormal quality in modern experiences is justified,
but logic is logic, and they cannot hope in that case to preserve supernormal
quality in incidents because they are ancient and recorded in a certain book.
Correspondence.
285
PSYCHOMETRICAL VARIATIONS.
Care of Equitable Trust Co., London,
March 25, 1922.
Dr. Walter F. Prince,
44 East 23rd St., New York.
Dear Dr. Prince:
In the Journal for January, 1922, page 22, appears the following
statement :
“ The third object presented was an ivory paper knife.
This had some time before been psychometrized, and Dr.
G. P. suggested that it be used again as a demonstration of
what he had often proved, namely that the same object calls
up the same vision. ... At the second trial, almost the
same details are given in almost the same order.”
I should like to state that in a series of experiments that I have
been making with a friend who has psychometric powers, I have
noted different results from the above.
These experiments were made with letters which were handed to
her in blank envelopes. I have given her the same letter several dif-
ferent times at widely varying intervals ; she not knowing that it
was the same letter. Never has she received the same impression
twice, although at one time, two readings of the same letter supple-
mented each other. That is to say, at one reading she saw one piece
of landscape, and at the next reading, she got another view. Putting
the two together, like the two halves of a picture, that has be^n cut,
the result showed a whole picture which was later verified.
For the sake of illustration, the following experiment is cited.
The same letter was given five different times over a period of four-
teen months ; during which time many other letters were psychome-
trized. Another letter by the same person was given twice. The
writer is a man living in Europe whom neither one of us had met.
The readings gave scenes in a home and a factory in Czecho-
slovakia, a sanatorium in Switzerland, a military prison camp and
an industrial city in Siberia, and a cemetery. Later, while traveling
in Europe, I met the writer of the letters. He verified in writing,
every fact mentioned above. Overcome with astonishment at the
accuracy of the readings, he said over and over again, “ Why, that
is an exact description, how did she get it?” Another point of in-
terest is that the impressions covered a period of several years.
Since the results of this experiment have proven to be just the
opposite of those obtained by Dr. G. P., it would appear that more
286 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
experimentation should be made before it is possible to draw con-
clusions on this important branch of Psychical Research.
Yours very truly,
Nellie M. Smith.
Note by Editor.
Of course Miss Smith is quite right in saying that no con-
clusions can be drawn from the particular fact, in the case of Dr.
Pagenstecher’s psychic, that her visions were repeated in almost
the same form, if she means general conclusions. I would not
think of drawing any general conclusions in particular instances.
And it is becoming to be certain that there are gTeat variations in
the deliverances of different psychometrists, due to what cause we
do not know, and will be a long while finding out. For example.,
the Mexican psychic is always fixed in one place in her vision,
while in some other cases the psychic wanders about, apparently.
And while on the subject of the Mexican psychometrist we
would turn to another correspondent and assure Mr. E. A. G.
that we have never thought that the ship vision, printed with
others in the January Journal, proved that there was ammunition
on board the Lusitania at the time it was sunk. This will be
made quite plain in the Proceedings.
)OvJI
Correspondence.
287
THE PURPORTED SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPH.
Normanton House, Lake Salisbury,
March 9th, 1922.
Dear Walter Prince :
I am glad you are publishing Dr. Cushman’s remarkable photo-
graph. Remarkable I mean for the circumstances under which it
was taken here in London — his identity being absolutely unknown —
and also for the clearness of the face obtained.
I could not judge about the validity of the recognition, but I
perceived from the first that it was a recognizable kind of face, and
that its expression was natural, attractive, and harmonious. It im-
pressed me directly I saw it : and it was the first psychic extra which
did seriously impress me. On the strength of it I have begun to
experiment in that branch of the subject more seriously.
Later, Dr. Cushman kindly sent me from America a normal por-
trait of his daughter — a less attractive picture than the supernormal
one : and from that, by analyzing the features, I perceived that his
recognition was justified.
How to account for the result in any normal manner under the
actual conditions is beyond me. And it seems to satisfy the test laid
down by Mr. Whately Smith as crucial. 1 quote his words from the
little book "The Case Against Spirit Photographs" (Kegan Paul),
page 39:
If it could be shown (i) that a given “ extra " was un-
mistakably recognizable as a portrait of a deceased — or even
of a living — person, and (ii) that the medium concerned
could not possibly have obtained a likeness of that person
to work from, then we should be obliged to attach great
weight to this factor, even if the conditions were not other-
wise such as to exclude fraud. For such a result could not
be fraudulently produced. But in spite of the perfectly
honest assertions of many investigators, it seems very doubt-
ful whether this state of affairs has ever been realized.
No one instance can really be held to settle a question of this im-
portance, but every stick contributes to the strength of a faggot, and
this seems to me a particularly thick one.
Yours faithfully,
Oliver Lodge.
288 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
BOOK REVIEW.
The Earthen Vessel. By Pamela Glenconner, with a preface by Sir
Oliver Lodge. John Lane Co., New York. Pp. xxvi-l-155.
Since the reviewer has not been able to share all the convictions of
Lady Glenconner relative to spirit photography, it is all the more a
pleasure to commend the present book almost without reserve. Indeed
about the only fault we find is that she did not give all the material
of the kind in her possession.
The book deals with '* book tests,” that not new but lately emphasized
species of evidence which has the appearance of being an attempt to
meet the telepathic objection. The medium, Mrs. Leonard, would specify
the location of a book in a house which, in most cases, she had never
entered, quite specifically, the page and often the part of the page, and
the character of the passage to be found there. Thus the doctrine of
telepathy would be defied, unless one has the hardihood to suggest that
in the subconsciousness of a person owning a library there is neatly
docketed and pigeon-holed a list, not only of the exact location of the
books, ‘but also of the content of the passages therein and their location
by pages.
In testing such mediumistic statements there is no question of ability
to cope with possible skillful jugglery, all that is needed is to go to the
place, open the book, find the page, and see what is thereon. The re-
sults of the reported tests are of unequal value. Some might seem
satisfactory through chance coincidence. But many of them are too
specific and complex in their correspondences with announced place of
book (and sometimes other description of it and adjacent books or
nearby articles), place in the book and content of the passage to make the
appeal to chance other than absurd. Some supernormal element seems
demanded to account for the facts since all others taken together are
inadequate.
The author is discriminating and moderate to a commendable degree.
In several instances she could reasonably have pointed to cumulative de-
tails concerning which she is silent. For example, after having told us
that the dead son Bim used to employ the term “ Mother and Son ” with
reference to Lady Glenconner and the still living David, and having
shown that a purported message from Bim to David specifying the
particular location of a passage in a book of particularly described loca-
tion disclosed the self-same phrase "Mother and Son” (p. 42), she
might have pointed out that another passage discovered by a similar
description with the prescribed allusions in it, also had the phrase
"Mother’s Son” (p. 52). The latter form is somewhat unusual, there
surely are not many entire books which contain it.
A part of the tests related to the books in various rooms in both the
town and country house of the Glenconners were given by Mrs. Leonard
when the Rev. Drayton Thoman was the sitter, and were transmitted by
him. He was in no position to know anything about the books, so in
these cases at least the sitter could not have had a subconsciousness
furnished with the necessary vast concordance of passages duly labelled
according to their location. — W. F. P.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, London,
England.
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Woking, England.
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England.
♦Viscount James Bryce, Forest
Row, England.
•Sir Wiluam Crookes, London,
England.
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zerland.
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Austria.
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Stanford University, CaL
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land.
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England.
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Prof. Wiluam McDoucall, Oxford
University, England.
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•Lord Rayleigh, Witham, England.
Prof. Charles Richet, Paris, France.
Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
Prof. Freiherr Von Schrencx-
Notzing, Munich, Germany.
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Mr. C J. Wilson, Dublin, Ireland.
MEMBERS
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Switzerland.
Cesar de Vesme, Paris, France.
Hon. Everard Feildinc, London,
England.
Camille Flammarion, Juvisy, France.
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Dr. Paul Joirs, Beauvais, France.
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land.
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Prof. Enrico Morselu, Genoa, Italy.
•Prof. J. Ochorovics, Warsaw,
Russia.
Mr. J. G. Piddington, Woking, Eng-
land.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D., New York.
Dr. Bonjour de Rachbwsky. Lau-
sanne. Switzerland.
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land.
HONORARY ASSOCIATE
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CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
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Conn. versity, New York City.
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Mass. Canada.
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* Deemed
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
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Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
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FORM OF BEQUEST FOR THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
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t In case the donor desires the funds used for Psycho-therapeutics this should read;
44 in trust, however, for the benefit of its branch for the investigation of Psycho*
therapeutics and for such purposes only."
“in trv
therapeutic.
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. June, 1922 No. 6
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT: PACE
Hodgson Fellowship for Psychical Research in Harvard University 289
Monthly Meetings of the Advisory Scientific Council . . . 290
Our Contributors 290
GENERAL ARTICLES:
The Case of Mrs. West. By Walter F. Prince . . . 292
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician. By E. Pierre Mallett, M. D. 315
Double Photographs. <By J. W. Hayward, M. Sc. 329
INCIDENTS:
Some Odd Details of Personal Experience. ByH. P. Bellows, M. D. 334
CONVERSAZIONE :
One Evidential Case of Spirit Photography not Proof . . . 339
BOOK REVIEW:
The Fringe of Immortality. By Mary E. Monteith . . .343
BOOKS RECEIVED . 3H
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. (5 Annually. Abroad £1. Is. 50 centi a copy.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 23rd St, New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company. York, Pa., to which tend change, of addreu.
Entered as second-class matter. July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York. Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March *, 1979. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for
in Section 1103, Act of October 8, 1917, authorized April 97, 1992.
>rfed fori.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL. President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDoucall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S, Chairman ex-officio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, SB., Ph.D„
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D., Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner, AM., Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D., F.A.A.S., New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S, LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D., Baltimore, Md.
William R_ Newbold, Ph.D., University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince. M.D., LL.D, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F, Prince, Ph.D., Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D„
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LLD, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcestoi. D.D., Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. George H, Hyslop, M.D.
4‘ 'Sfc Titus Bull, M.D. Lawson Purdy.
/eston D. h. MJle| M Dawson.
itus Bull, W ,
tiles M. DacG
me* vr rvirnrr
VOLUME XVI— No. 8
JUNE, 1988
JOURNAL
OP
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
290 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of B. A. 1916, and a graduate student in psychology at Harvard,
which conferred the degree of A. M. in 1917. He has, com-
mencing with 1919, been in attendance at Columbia, a candidate
for the degree of Ph.D., and also a lecturer in psychology.
Mr. Murphy will conduct his experiments and investigations
from headquarters in Cambridge, but with weekly sojourns in
New York in connection with Columbia University (where he
will still conduct one class as a lecturer) and especially in connec-
tion with the American Society for Psychical Research, Inc.,
making use of its library and records and facilities for research. —
M. M. D.
I
Monthly Meetings of the Advisory Scientific Council.
The arrangement for monthly meetings of such members as
could attend, during half the year, was first suggested by Dr.
Henry Holt. While it was obvious that only a minority would
be able to attend at more than one or two meetings owing to the
fact that only nine out of twenty live within a hundred miles, yet
they have proved very profitable in the promotion of the interests
of the Society.
The last session of the season was in April. They will re-
sume in November, 1921 and continue to April, 1922, the first
and last to be known as the Semi-Annual Meetings.
Our Contributors.
Howard Perry Bellows, M. D., is a distinguished aurist of
Boston. He is a B. S. of Cornell University, an M. D. of Boston
Medical School, and has studied in Leipzig, Vienna and Halle.
An aurist in his practice, he has been active, by experimentation
and writing, in promoting scientific determination of drug-action.
He has been a professor, first of physiology, then of otology, for
more than forty years in Boston Medical School, and is consult-
ing aural surgeon of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hos-
pital, etc.
Joseph William Hayward, M. Sc., is an English engineer
who has travelled extensively and has followed his profession on
both sides of the Atlantic. He was graduated at Manchester
(England) in 1895 and came to Canada in 1906 to take up an
Announcement and Comment.
291
Assistant Professorship at McGill University. He is now a resi-
dent in New York. In the course of his career he has done
valuable work along several lines of scientific research besides
those in which our Society is more especially interested.
292 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
THE CASE OF MRS. WEST.
By Walter F. Prince.
( Second Part)
As preface to the most peculiar and puzzling of Mrs. West’s
announcements it must be stated that several times during a
period of nine months she had been impressed that something of
importance was going to happen on August 11th, 1919.
The first intimation was contained in a letter written Nov.
5th, 1918: a vision such as might occur to a person subject to
hallucinatory experiences and situated as she was, in a great
government plant where there were rumors of graft and plotting
just at the close of the great War. I got pretty well used at that
period to predictions by different persons of plots and riots and
revolutions. Even in the cases of the exceptional psychics whose
occasional utterances regarding private affairs still in the future
had the puzzling appearance of being truly prophetic, time brought
few impressive endorsements of their predictions regarding mu-
nicipal, national or international affairs. Nor was Mrs. West
an exception. Whatever visions or impressions of hers were such
as popular excitement or newspaper rumor might instigate never
to my knowledge came true, unless in regard to some simple facts
within reach of inference or guess.
The vision reported Nov. 5th, 1918, began thus:
Just before coming to the city I had this remarkable vision : I was
in a department store talking to a woman who stood behind a coun-
ter. She looked at me earnestly and said, “ A crisis is pending.”
I said, “ You mean that the new world teacher is to appear?"
She hesitated a moment and then replied, “I-can’t-tell. See !” she
said, holding up a calendar which had been tom in half but was
pasted together, “ Word came from Montana that they expected it
on this date.”
The date was the eleventh of August. And she held it a long
time before my eyes that I might not forget. Then she continued.
The Case of Mrs. West.
293
“ Big wages are being paid but they are pleasure mad.” ... I said to
myself, “ I will go there Friday."
Then followed the awful things to come, which did not im-
press me, since this kind of thing so uniformly proves fallacious,
as is to be expected. What I am calling attention to is the repe-
tition of the date, August 11th, and the impression it made upon
the mind of the lady for some unknown reason.
On November 17th she seemed to think the fulfillment of the
prediction had begun, but the reader who knows the frequency of
strikes and considers both the impression that this frequency
therefore might make on such a mind and the fact that this
strike was not connected with the governmental plant, will hardly
be convinced.
We have her word that she actually went to — in the com-
monly colloquial sense of taking a position — the place on the an-
nounced day, Friday, though the fact is not otherwise proved,
nor is it proved that she did not consciously or unconsciously de-
lay her actual entrance upon her duties a day or two after being
engaged so as to fulfil the prediction.
In my last summary I mentioned a vision in which I had gone
to a large department store. If you remember, I said, “ I will go
there on Friday.” The Supply Base is in reality a department store,
and I took the position on Friday. I was also told in the vision
that a crisis was pending — three thousand men have just gone
out on strike. And again I say, Peace is not here. Remember the
card, bearing the date August 11th which the woman held before
my eyes. It had been tom in two and pasted together. It was not
permanent.
On March 17th, 1919, she wrote:
Do you recall a vision in which I went into a department store
and was told that something very strange would happen on the
11th of August? And that I said when I left the place, 11 1 will go
there on Friday.”
This place where I am employed is really a department store. It
is a supply warehouse. And when I enlisted, I was assigned to
5<J|C
294 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
duty on Friday, November seventh. The woman in the vision told
me that a crisis was pending because and I could see so
clearly what was wrong and even thought how simple it would be to
argue with them and put them on their honor. I wish I could tell you
just what I have discovered. Would it be perfectly all right to tell
you without betraying a confidence ? I really think you should know
for these visions are being borne out so rapidly that it is necessary
for you to know every detail. A crisis is pending and in some
strange way I am going to have a part in it. What can it be? Do
not forget the date — August 11th.
In the extract above and in after letters claims were made that
discoveries of facts had been made which bore out specific pre-
dictions which I forbear to quote. I cannot contradict the claims,
though they were never satisfactorily proved to me. It could,
of course, be evident to her that certain facts existed even though
it was difficult to prove them to an outsider. This remark is
made in fairness, but not as an intimation that I believe the claims
justified, as I know nothing about it aside from the uncorrobor-
ated statements which were made, describing the specific facts.
A letter of July 28th, 1919, again rehearses the vision refer-
ring to August 11th, and adds that in consequence of her discov-
ery of facts substantiating the predicted state of things she re-
ported these facts, and several persons hearing of it hurriedly re-
signed. It referred me to a man who apparently existed, but who
made no response to an application for his statement of the facts.
Giving the name certainly, as far as it goes, indicates good faith,
and it is not surprising that a man, though acquainted with such
facts, should not care to make a statement which, for aught he
knew, might get him into trouble. Not one man in five would
have done it. But it leaves us without corroboration neverthe-
less. The matters were too delicate and the situation too complex
to admit of applying to the heads of the institution for infor-
mation. In the same letter of July 28th, a more definite predic-
tion of a threatened casualty was made, with the statement,
“ They [apparently discamate informants are meant] expect it
on the eleventh of August."
Mrs. West was so certain that the predicted malicious disaster
The Case of Mrs. West.
295
was to take place, unless prevented, on the 11th of August, that
she asked me if I could not give warning to have a search made
for a bomb in a particular building, and a particular part of it, on
the 10th — this sufficiently indicates the nature of the disaster re-
ferred to. She returned to the matter in her letter of July 30th,
again naming “ the Eleventh of August,” and asking as she had
asked before, that her name should not be disclosed. I accord-
ingly wrote a note to a person in high authority, relating the pre-
diction, and stating that I had little faith as a rule in such pre-
monitions, but that the lady had in a few instances shown an un-
accountable knowledge of my affairs and thoughts, closing the
letter with these words : “ I do not personally expect that any-
thing will be found to justify the warning, at the same time that
I would, were I in your place, have a search made, as a mere pre-
caution.” The official responded briefly but very courteously on
the 11th, thanking me and asking to be informed of any new
developments. It may with fair safety be assumed that if any-
thing was discovered the fact would have been intimated to me.
On the other hand it is of course true that if a search was made
before the supposititious bomb was placed, this could have awak-
ened fears and prevented the plot being carried out at all on the
I I th or any near date. But, while we cannot absolutely deny that
there was any such plot, there certainly never appeared evidence
of any, and the chance that there was is very small. But some-
thing very curious, though of quite a different nature, did reach
its climax on the eleventh of August.
The Mrs. Evans Incident.
The above account is printed outside of the Incident because
there is no apparent connection between them except the date,
August 11th, but there is another preface which certainly belongs
with the Incident.
A gentleman named Jay Wellington, a talented singer and
actor, had been briefly known to my family when we lived in
California, in 1914. One day in February, 1919, he appeared in
my office in New York. I somehow became impressed with the
idea that he could do automatic writing, and an experiment started
it almost instantly, and the writing was swift and very legible, but
couched in a meaningless verbal gibberish.
296 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
I invited him to my home in Upper Montclair, New Jersey,
and accompanied him there toward supper time on February 25th.
After supper I proposed another experiment and again his hand
wrote with great speed and grace, but without the production of
any intelligible words. Presently the idea struck me to have my
daughter, Theodosia, with whom I have experiments in trance
automatic writing, place herself in a situation to write, with view
to see what the reaction would be when his writing was still going
on. She consented to see if her hands would write automatically
but decidedly demurred at going to sleep; to which alteration I
readily consented. But no sooner was she seated and had the
writing-board before her and the pencil in her hand than her
head rolled to one side and she was asleep, the most nearly in-
stantaneous attainment of that condition which she has experi-
enced at any time. Her hand wrote “ Does the young man
wish his mother to write?” To this unexpected proposition he
assented.
This is not the place for a report of the four evidential sit-
tings of Feb. 25th, March 4th, March 16th and August 6th.
When they are reported it will be shown why I was very ad-
vantageously placed to testi fy what was known and what was not
known by me and my wife and daughter about Mr. Wellington's
affairs, and to show that what was written certainly evinced an
extraordinary knowledge not normally explainable. The state-
ments were not many but they were so explicit and so intimate
that the sitter was astounded.
I pass on to the sitting of August 6th when, after a long inter-
val, Mr. Wellington again came to town and called. During this
call I told him of the intensive study I was then making of W. M.
Keeler’s fraudulent spirit photographs, and mentioned the diffi-
culty I was having in getting some photographer to fake similar
photographs according to my directions. They wanted to make
something “ better,” which would destroy the resemblance to
Keeler's work which is what I desired to achieve. Mr. Welling-
ton exclaimed, in substance, “ I know just the man, who will en-
joy doing just what you want him to do. Come to Delaware
Water Gap and pay me a visit and I will take you over to Strouds-
burg, the adjoining town.” The suggestion suited me; I was
anxious to have the work done ; Mr. Wellington’s confidence that
The Case of Mrs. West. 297
his friend would do it was contagious, and both Mrs. Prince and
I needed an outing.
Later in the evening we had a sitting, Theodosia writing.
Calling her son by his baptismal name which he had discarded
and which we had not known, the purported spirit of his mother
claimed that for a time she " lost ” him when he moved from the
old home. We knew he had moved but not to what sort of a
place he had moved. Then she made the bewildering remark that
when she found strangers in the old place she went to the woods.
“ I was in the woods and saw you on the hillside [J. W. nodded
with feeling] but I have not left the home. I know not the other.
I love the woods and will see and talk with you there sometime.
I am glad the gentleman is going to see the woods [presumably
referring to the fact that Mrs. P. and I are going to Delaware
Water Gap, where J. W. lives, next Sunday] * * * * J watched over
you until I lost you. I do not know when you moved. It was then
I missed you. I stayed in the house waiting for your return and
then went to the woods.”
I had never heard anything like this before, and only Mr.
Wellington’s acquiescence kept me from entire incredulity. How-
ever, he did not explain.
On the 8th I wrote Mrs. West that I was to start on Sunday
the 10th for a short trip and that she could reach me by address-
ing me at General Delivery, Delaware Water Gap, Pa. I pur-
posely refrained from giving the house address for the obvious
reasons which impelled me in all my letters to give no unnecessary
information about myself. But, considering her repeated im-
pressions that something tragic was to happen on the 11th unless
prevented by my letters to the official already referred to, it seemed
possible that she would want to communicate with me before my
return. On the 9th I wrote a short note directly intended to
stimulate her to get impressions regarding me while I was absent,
but without saying so, and in this, supposing that she had received
my foregoing letter, I made no reference to General Delivery, but
only suggested that she write to “ D. W. G.”, giving the initials
only, and to follow the directions of my previous letter (in refer-
ence to the dates of my arrival and departure). It appears that
she never received my letter of the 8th.
298 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
10th August, 1919.
Dear Doctor :
I am mystified by a letter telling me to direct my letter which
should reach you Monday, to D. W. G.
In your letter of the ninth you say, “ Hope to hear from you
where I am going." And then you tell me to follow directions.
Is it possible that you wrote me on Thursday? I did not re-
ceive any letter on Friday, but do not feel worried as I “feel"
that none was delivered on that date. However, as you have
asked me to write to you where you are going, and I do not know,
I will have to rely upon my impressions and will direct a letter —
just a few lines, to where I think you are. I will put my name and
address on the envelope so it will be returned in case I am wrong.
Will not write again in case I am wrong. Will not write again
until I hear from you.
Very sincerely,
Annie A. West.
This letter was sent to my New York address and it was
another letter written at the same time which she sent to the place
where, as stated, she thought I was. This I shall present later.
Some readers may think that she was manufacturing evidence —
that she really did get the letter of the 8th and was trying to make
me believe that she divined by occult means that “ D. W. G.”
stood for Delaware Water Gap. So I may as well say here that I
care little whether or not she received that letter, as it gave no
information beyond the fact that I could be reached by General
Delivery in that place, and this does not touch the real point of
interest.
This was the state of things when, on Sunday, August 10th,
Mrs. Prince and I took train for Delaware Water Gap. We ar-
rived there in the afternoon, and as soon as we neared the new
home of Mr. Wellington we were struck by the fact that it was
on a great hillside overlooking the beautiful Cherry Valley. “ I
saw you on the hillside ” the words purported to have come from
Mr. Wellington’s mother, along with her remarks about his mov-
ing from the old home, were certainly relevant to a striking degree.
On the morning of the 1 1th our host proposed to show us the
old home and that we should then take the nearby trolley-car to
The Case of Mrs. West.
299
Stroudsburg, to begin the business which had brought me to this
region. After reviewing the grounds in front, he led us to the
rear, and there pointed to a piece of woods which came within a
few rods of the house, and then he took us out among the trees
and there was a bench. “ Here,” he said, “ was my mother’s
favorite seat, and here she used to come and sit almost every fair
afternoon.” The reference in the script, “ I went to the woods,”
which had seemed so bizarre, now appeared a natural expression
in accordance with the facts. Mr. Wellington was profoundly
affected as he looked at the seat so associated with his mother.
" Often she sat there alone and sometimes her dearest friend, Mrs.
Evans sat with her.” A pause and he added, “ I would like you
to meet Mrs. Evans. She is interested in psychical research and
would be glad to talk with you, and I want you to see my mother's
dearest friend. It is only a little way from here, and we can take
the car before her door.” We were taken to the house and intro-
duced to a lovely aged lady, Mrs. Evans, her daughter who also
was a Mrs. Evans and was at home on a visit, and the daughter
of the latter. These constituted the family. After some conver-
sation in which the elder Mrs. Evans took an eager and intelligent
part, Mr. Wellington asked if they would not like to come to his
place the next afternoon to continue the conversation, and stay
to tea, Mrs. Evans agreed, and she and her daughter and grand-
daughter came the next afternoon and spent the rest of the day
and a part of the evening with us in earnest conversation. These
persons, Mrs. Evans, senior, Mrs. Evans, junior, and the girl
were the only ones, outside of Mrs. Wellington’s own household,
that I met in Delaware Water Gap more than momentarily, dur-
ing my stay of about three days. Considerable time was spent in
the successful experiments at the Stroudsburg photographer’s, for
pictures duplicating Keeler’s “ spirit-photography,” and much of
the time it rained, and most of the remainder was enjoyed in the
grounds of the Tea Garden of which my host was proprietor and
on walks in the beautiful region surrounding them.
Now comes the puzzling thing which has made all this tedious
prefatory detail necessary. On my return from Stroudsburg the
latter part of the afternoon of the 11th, after my first conversa-
tion with the Evans's and before the long one already arranged
for, a letter from Mrs. West, taken from the post-office soon after
300 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the first conversation had taken place, was handed me by a mem-
ber of Mr. Wellington’s business household, Mr. Clinger. It was
written the day before, Sunday, the 10th, and bore the postmark
of the evening of the same day. It read :
10th August, 1919.
Dear Doctor :
If this letter reaches you it will be another link in the
CHAIN OF EVIDENCE, FOR ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE GIVEN ME A CLUE IN
D. W. G. YOU DID NOT MENTION " Mrs. EVANS."
Hastily,
A. A. West.
The envelope, as stated, bore the postal stamp of the evening
of August 10th, it was addressed to “ Dr. W. F. Prince, Delaware
Water Gap, Pa.,” and in the lower left-hand corner was
c/o Mrs. Evans.
The letter would actually have reached me through Mrs.
Evans, had not the postmaster heard of my arrival so that he
handed it to Mr. Wellington’s employee when he called at the
postoffice as usual for the morning mail.
As soon as I had read the surprising note on my return, I
handed it to Mr. Wellington. I still retain a memory-picture of
his looks as he read it, — his face actually became whiter, and his
jaw dropped, as he read the name of the woman to whom that
morning, moved by a sudden impulse, he had taken me and with
whom he had arranged for a long interview with me. The
Evans’s were no less astonished the next day.
The following testimonies are now in order :
Testimony I.
At no time had I ever mentioned Mrs. West’s name or her ad-
dress to Mr. Jay Wellington, prior to August 11, 1919, nor had
I given him any information from which he could have suspected
that there was such a person. Nor had I ever told even the mem-
bers of my family her address or given information whereby they
could have traced it, though they knew that there was a psychic
who had made true statements regarding a desk belonging to me.
The Case of Mrs. West.
301
Nor is there any other conceivable way in which Mr. Wellington
could have learned of her and of my acquaintance with her. Further-
more I had never written (there had as yet been no other mode of
communication) to Mrs. West one word about Mr. Wellington,
and all the information sent her about my trip was the direction to
address me at General Delivery, Delaware Water Gap, Pa.
Walter Franklin Prince.
Testimony 2.
May 13, 1922.
I recollect my impressions at the time of the incident related
by my husband, and am certain that I did not know then or to this
time where Mrs. West lived, and to the best of my recollection I
did not know her name. I certainly never imparted it to any one,
least of all to Mr. Wellington. I was not and could not have been
the source of any relevant information to either of the parties.
Lelia C. Prince.
Testimony j.
May 13, 1922.
I never said anything which could have informed Mrs. West or
Mr. Wellington about each other, and did not have the knowledge
which would have enabled me to do so.
Theodosia B. Prince.
Testimony 4.
a. Queries by W. P. Prince, August 16th.
My Dear Wellington :
Will you kindly make out a statement, within a very few days,
regarding your part in the incident related to Mrs. Evans. And
cover the following points.
1. Mrs. Evans being your mother’s dearest friend.
2. When you first mentioned Mrs. E. to Mrs. Prince and me.
3. When and how it occured to you to take me to see Mrs. E.
4. Had you any such intention or had you previously intended
to invite Mrs. E. over to see us?
5. Whether you ever knew or had heard of Mrs. Annie A.
West, who sent the letter saying that if received it would be
V «00£K
302 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ another link in the chain of evidence ” and gave name ; “ Mrs.
Evans ’’ both inside the letter and on the envelope.
Also will whichever of your helpers received the letter sign a
line (dated of course) saying at about what hour of Monday,
August 11th it came? And to make all complete will you ask Mrs.
Evans if she ever heard of Mrs. Annie A. West of Brooklyn, and
also to state that theirs is the only family named Evans in D. W. G.
[A fact already imparted] ? * * *
W. F. Prince.
b. Reply by Mr. Wellington.
The Meeting of Dr. Prince and Mrs. Evans at Delaware Water Gap.
Point One.
Mrs. Evans was my mother’s best friend in Delaware Water
Gap. They spent many happy days together having many interests
in common. No one on earth mourned the loss of my sainted
mother more than did Mrs. Evans. No one could show greater
interest in the messages I received from time to time through
Theodosia than did Mrs. Evans. She too, has felt that her de-
parted friend, my mother, was very near many times.
Point Two.
I never mentioned the name of Mrs. Evans to either Dr. or Mrs.
Prince until less than ten minutes before I introduced Mrs. Evans
to Dr. and Mrs. Prince.
Point Three.
It did not occur to me to present Dr. and Mrs. Prince to Mrs.
Evans until I found that we had about ten or fifteen minutes to
wait for a trolley car to Stroudsburg. I determined a stroll around
the bend to the home of Mrs. Evans would be pleasing to my guests
and as the car would stop directly in front of Mrs. Evans' residence
it would be a good place to board the car for Stroudsburg.
Three minutes before I made the introduction I felt that it would
do Mrs. Evans a great deal of good to meet the gentleman through
whose efforts I had learned so much from mother through
Theodosia. I gave expressions to my thoughts of that moment as
we (Dr. Prince and I) approached her (Mrs. Evans’s) home.
Point Four.
I had had no intention of presenting Dr. and Mrs. Prince to the
The Case of Mrs. West.
303
Evanses at any time during their visit with me. There were only
two (2) persons in Delaware Water Gap I had thought of having
Dr. Prince meet. One was a " Mrs. F ” the other was a “ Mrs.
P "
Point Five.
I never heard the name of Mrs. Annie A. West until the night
Dr. Prince received the letter relative to the “ another link in the
chain of evidence ” ; the name has since been unknown to me hav-
ing forgotten it entirely, until I read it in Dr. Prince's communica-
tion of August 16th, 1919.
Jay Wellington,
August 22nd, 1919.
T estimony 5.
Delaware Water Gap, Pa.
I never heard of such a person as Mrs. Annie A. West, until
her letter containing my name was read to me. To the best of my
knowledge there is no other family of my name in Delaware Water
Gap or other persons living here, besides myself and my daughter
(who is temporarily here), named Mrs. Evans.
[Signed] Mrs. W. R. Evans.
Testimony 6.
I received from the Postmaster at Delaware Water Gap a let-
ter addressed to Dr. Walter F. Prince, Delaware Water Gap. Pa.,
c/o Mrs. Evans.
The letter was handed to me about ten o’clock on the morning
of August 11th, 1919.
I delivered the letter to Dr. Prince about seven o’clock at night.
Dr. Prince was away from the Tea Garden the greater part of the
day.
[Signed] Glenn S. Clinger,
Delaware Water Gap, Pa.,
Aug. 22nd, 1919.
Testimony 7.
o. Postscript to letter of August 18 th, /p/p from W. F. Prince
to Mrs. West.
P, S. You will not mind my asking, simply as a part of the
304 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
record, whether you were ever in Delaware Water Gap, or had
knowledge of its people, or of Mrs. Evans in particular. Please
simply state how much you knew about the people of that place, if
anything. — W. F. P.
b. Mrs. West’s Reply.
St, Brooklyn, N. Y.,
19th August, 1919.
Dear Doctor :
I am in receipt of your letter of the eighteenth inst. and in re-
ply would state that I have never been in Delaware Water Gap nor
do I know anyone living there.
Am sorry to say that I am not acquainted with " Mrs. Evans.”
Very sincerely,
Annie A. West.
Let us now turn to Mrs. West’s account of how she came to
write the letter addressed in care of Mrs. Evans, and announcing
so positively "If this letter reaches you it will be another link in
the chain of evidence, for although you have given me a clue in
D. W. G. you did not mention Mrs. Evans.” My postcard of in-
quiry and her response follow.
Delaware Water Gap, Pa., August 13th, 1919.
Message regarding Mrs. E. is most surprising. Kindly explain
how it came to be given, fully, please.
Time has been fully occupied here. Back to office tomorrow,
Thursday morning. After I learn how message came to be given
and what sender understood bv it. will tell the sequel.
W. F. P.
14th August, 1919.
Dear Doctor:
I have just received your card from Delaware Water Gap and
also your letter from New York.
Last Sunday afternoon I picked up your letter dated August 8th
trying to solve the mystery of D. W. G.
At first I thought you had made a mistake and had meant to
write D. W. P. (Doctor Walter Prince) but suddenly the words
The Case of Mrs. West.
305
“ Delaware Water Gap ” came into my mind. I immediately arose
and going to a table wrote you two letters — one to New York and
the other to D. W. G.
As I was addressing a letter to the above mentioned place I
paused in doubt. “ Would a letter be sure to reach you with this
simple address?” I held my pen quite firmly in my hand while 1
asked very earnestly, “ Whose care shall I direct it in?”
Instantly, the pen flew violently out of my hand, down upon the
table and then upon my lap. I also became conscious of a woman
taller and stouter than I, dressed in white, who stood by my side;
and although I did not hear her speak, she said very plainly, " Mrs.
Evans.”
This woman was not in material form. Although I felt her
nearness, it seemed as though I were looking through a heavy veil.
And I had a very strong conviction that she spoke the truth.
Did she ? I am anxious to know.
Regarding the affair at the Base, I wish to thank you and those
concerned, for the work you did in connection with it.
*********
[The rest of the letter relates to the plot which she still thought
an actuality in some way related to August 11th.]
Annie A. West.
The account sounds as though the two letters were already
written when she had the vision and the inspiration to address
the envelope in care of Mrs. Evans, which would be inconsistent
with the fact that Mrs. Evans was mentioned in the letter itself
which was sent to Delaware Water Gap. But on the 14th she
explained :
On reviewing my narrative the only mistake I seem to have
made is in the word “ immediately and I must confess that there
was possibly five minutes intermission between my sitting at the
table and my beginning the letters.
The truth is, that in relating the incident I was so overcome with
emotion at the experience that I allowed my feelings to effervesce
and did not weigh my words.
It is quite true that I said, “ As I was addressing a letter to the
306 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
above mentioned place I paused in doubt and then had the experi-
ence.” You say, “This sounds as though the letter was already
written before [you were] I was furnished the name — “ Mrs.
Evans.”
Surely, you must know that I referred to the envelope. I am
sure I did not address the letter to D. W. G. and I addressed the
envelope first.
It was characteristic of Mrs. West, as it is of many people in
conversation and epistolary correspondence, occasionally to neglect
chronological order in narration. In telling a story she would
sometimes remember a detail which happened earlier and not
make that fact apparent. The order seems to have been that she
wrote the letter addressed to New York, and then before writing
the other wondered how she could get it to me as she had not re-
ceived my explicit direction to send it to General Delivery, Dela-
ware Water Gap, then had her vision and then wrote the address
on the other envelope, and the letter mentioning Mrs. Evans last
of all.
I may add that this vision of a woman, apparently come to
give information and advice, was not new, but was a rather fre-
quent form in which her intimations appeared.
And now let us employ our utmost ingenuity to rescue our-
selves from our predicament of entanglement in the apparently
supernormal. How did Mrs. West get the information which
enabled her to write with such deadly accuracy and to give the
name with which Delaware Water Gap for me was most asso-
ciated outside of my host’s family?
We have statements which if true, cut off the possibility of
merely casually-acquired information on the part of Mrs. West.
If she had normal information that I was to meet a Mrs. Evans,
one, more than one, or all of the signers of the six testimonies
(leaving out of account Clinger’s) lied. But one could not suc-
cessfully have lied unassisted. There must, therefore, if lying
was involved, have been a plot. If the plot was formed antecedent
to the automatic writing sitting of August 6th. I must have
started it, for it was my account of difficulties with photographers
which directly led to the invitation to experiment with Mr.
Knox in Stroudsburg. There had nothing been said about my
The Case of Mrs. West.
307
going to Delaware Water Gap previous to that, and no likelihood
of anything being said. If Mr. Wellington had known anything
about Mrs. West, he has no discovered prophetic powers to inform
him that I was going to disclose a difficulty which would make
the journey desirable.
1. If I plotted in advance, then I had to make Mrs. West
and Mr. Wellington parties to the plot, for he would have to in-
form me the name of Mrs. Evans in order that I could inform
Mrs. West, unless I lie in asserting that I then knew neither the
name of Mrs. Evans, nor that of any other person in the place
except Mr. Wellington’s and the names of members of his house-
hold. And probably Miss Theodosia would also be a member of
the conspiracy, in order to make her writing so pertinent to the
plot.
2. If I initiated the plot after the automatic writing was re-
ceived, still three persons would have to take parts in it, with all
the risks of proposing it to Mr. Wellington and Mrs. West. I
doubt if either of these theories involving me in the forgery of
evidence and successfully inducing other persons to share the guilt,
will be entertained.
3. Could Mr. Wellington have initiated the plot? No, be-
cause he had never learned from me about Mrs. West, and it is
hardly reasonable to suppose that he had met this person in a
city of 6,000,000 souls, that she had told the infrequent visitor
about her correspondence with me, that both were willing to lie
for no assignable motive on his part, and that I should have led
up to a lying conspiracy with this particular psychic thus curiously
known to him out of the scores of my acquaintance, by my re-
marks about photography. This is a combination beyond belief.
4. Could Mrs. West have initiated the plot? No, because she
knew nothing about my acquaintance with Mr. Wellington ; noth-
ing about the proposal to go to Delaware Water Gap, nothing
about the people there until after the remarkable letter was writ-
ten, unless there was a concert of lying and of incredibilities, as
in the earlier suppositions. If we suppose that she chanced to
know Mrs. Evans, and guessing that D. W. G. stood for Dela-
ware Water Gap (which latter particular could of course be quite
possible) was capable of lying in saying she knew no one there
and of taking the risk of arranging a hasty plot with her, and
308 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
accurately guessed that Mrs. Evans would lie regarding her own
state of knowledge, yet still Mr. Wellington would have to be
drawn into the plot in order that he should lead up to my meet-
ing Mrs. Evans.
5. Could Mrs. Prince or Theodosia have initiated the plot?
No, for neither had the information, making it possible to bring
Mrs. West into it, to say nothing of other incredibilities and four-
fold lying which would be involved in such a theory.
6. It would be insanely absurd to suppose that Mrs. Evans
or Mr. Clinger could have initiated the plot.
It is so manifest that all of these suppositions are incredible
that it may occur to readers that, after having given the seven
testimonies, it was not worth while to discuss them. But I note
that many people, prior to such an analysis of all the possible
theories of fraud, have a hazy notion that somewhere in the
range of them the explanation may lie. And as there seems to be
a conclusion to the whole matter of critical importance I wish to
pave every step of the way to it.
But if both honest and dishonest normal information that 1
was going to meet Mrs. Evans was unavailable to Mrs. West, was
not her confident mention of the name as significant in relation to
me and Delaware Water Gap due to chance coincidence ?
It is difficult to measure the chances mathematically, but some
kind of a rough estimate may be made. There are about 361,000
names in the telephone directory of Manhattan and the Bronx,
New York City. There are 190 by the name of Evans, or about
1 in 1900. I suppose that this may furnish a fair basis, providing
that Mrs. Evans did not know, as she testified, and no reason to
doubt her veracity in regard to her experiences ever developed.
Even if she knew every person composing the settled population
among whom I was told there were but two by the name of
“ Mrs. Evans ” she would have but two chances out of several
hundred of making the confident announcement containing that
name most prominent, outside of my host’s household, in connec-
tion with myself and my journey to that place. For that name
need not have been that of a woman, or of a married one. And
if she had never been there, and knew nothing about the people
there, the chances were something like 1 in 1900.
Remember that Mrs. West was the woman who said that I
The Case of Mrs. West.
309
could administer ether — was she perhaps living unknown to me
in the Connecticut town where I did this ? And intimated that in
the lower-left hand drawer of a described desk was something of
peculiar significance — had she slipped unseen into the house in
New Jersey where lived my family who alone knew this was a
fact ? And said that she felt that this desk should be in the middle
of the floor — had I perhaps forgotten that both in Pennsylvania
and California where “ Margaret ” had lived who owned the con-
tents of that drawer this woman used to call so that she could
know that the desk was at both places in the middle of the floor?
And that I wrote the beginning of a composition called “ The
Dream Girl " — was she perhaps peering through a crack of the
door to my office in New York as I was writing it? Then I will
cheerfully admit that when I went on this Pennsylvania errand, it
happened to be a town where the woman chanced to know every
person in it and the Evans’s among them ; chanced to choose this
very name of significance to me while there and chanced likewise
at the same time to name the woman most intimately associated
with the purported communicator in the secrecy of my home.
I cannot concede that the chance would be less on the ground
that Mrs. Evans might conceivably have been connected with my
journey, but not as a resident of the Gap, since the letter was sent
to that place marked in care of Mrs. Evans. Otherwise we must
abide by the estimate of 1 chance in 1900.
I submit what seems to me the unmistakable strangeness
of that confident exclamation “ this will be another link in the
chain of evidence.” If it had not been for this letter I should still
have remembered “ Mrs. Evans,” both senior and junior, from the
long conversations alone, and from certain humorous incidents
which took place. And I should remember the Mrs. Evans because
of her connection with the deceased Mrs. Wellington who used
to sit with her in “ the woods,” so that she has a place in the notes
on my daughter’s automatic writing. But I cannot remember
meeting any other Mrs. Evans, or Mr. Evans either, among the
hundreds of different people I have conversed with during the
two years and nine months since elapsed. I do not say I have
met none, but none has made an impression upon my memory,
there is none in any significant relation to me. I have letters from
persons of many hundreds of different names, received in that
310 Journal of the Atnerican Society for Psychical Research.
period, and the files disclose but one named Evans. Yet a letter
came to me, two years and nine months ago, during a visit of
three and a half days, mentioning the name — not Evans only but
“ Mrs. Evans ” — saying this would be evidence, and unmistakably
intimating that the evidence would consist in a Mrs. Evans of
Delaware Water Gap being in such personal relations with me
that a letter to me could properly or safely be addressed in her
care there,
I doubt if the vast difference between a casual coincidence
and one which is announced beforehand is ordinarily appreciated.
In the myriad happenings of one’s experience it is not strange that
coincidences occur. In the three days preceding my journey I
probably received forty letters. Including the names of the
writers, these may have contained sixty names of persons, thirty
names of places, and eighty conspicuous other references. During
these three days and those of my visit hundreds of things, small
and great happened to me in my home, on trains between that and
New York, on ferry boats and trolley cars, in my office, on the
way to Delaware Water Gap and after I got there. It would not
have been strange if verbal and factual coincidences occurred be-
tween the contents of letters and my experiences. If one of the
sixty names of persons mentioned in the letters, for example,
whether that name happened to be Smith or Jones or Evans, had
casually coincided with that of a person I met in New York or
the Gap or Stroudsburg, or even that of a person very conspicu-
ously connected with the trip, I might have noticed the fact but
should not have marvelled thereat. But this is not the case before
us. One letter of the forty declared that it contained evidence and
that letter stated that the one name which constituted the evidence
was the name Mrs. Evans and unmistakably intimated that
the Mrs. Evans would be in some personal relation to me in
Delaware Water Gap. The difference between a coincidence with
one out of a thousand facts, discovered after the event, and a
predicted particular coincidence with one particular fact out of the
thousand is like that between the west and the east.
But will I not concede that the messages relating certain of my
privately known characteristics, the message about the drawer, the
message announcing the title of my verses, “ The Dream Girl ”
may have been instances of long-distance telepathy? I will most
The Case of Mrs. West.
311
cheerfully admit each and every one of these claims, provisionally
at least. Then will I not admit that the “ Mrs. Evans ” message
may also have been telepathic? No, and this is the reason why
so much pains has been taken in setting forth the case. It could
not have been telepathic, for at the time Mrs. West wrote her
letter no one in the world knew or dreamed that I was going to
meet a Mrs. Evans, and still less, that this was to be the one con-
spicuous meeting with strangers in Delaware Water Gap. I did
not know it, and I did not know of the existence of the Mrs.
Evans or of Mrs. Evans, her daughter. Mrs. Prince and Miss
Theodosia were equally ignorant. Mr. Wellington did not know
it, as the first thought of introducing me came to him by the most
natural association of ideas as he stood looking at his mother's
favorite seat in the “ woods ’’ and remembered that Mrs. Evans
used to bear her company there. Mrs. Evans did not know it for
the same reason. It was not until at least 12 hours after Mrs.
West wrote her positive and confident statement that any one else
in the world thought of my meeting Mrs. Evans. This is the
evidence, in which I have striven in vain to search out a flaw.
Of course cloudland hypotheses may be found to “ explain ”
this as every imaginable case. A fake health organization formed
for commercial purposes gave out that the life-fostering element
in all food is “ Glame. ” And nobody can possibly prove that
there isn’t any such thing as glame. One enthusiastic layman in
these matters, encouraged by speculations about telepathy which
darts information about by relays within the hour, printed (hav-
ing the advantage of being himself an editor) his epicycle to the
theory, which was that a recipient might now become informed
of an unrecorded event which happened to Pharaoh, by its being
telepathed from one generation to another until it reached this
recipient, in whose consciousness it emerged. But even he did
not venture to suggest telepathy working backward in time. Yet I
am prepared for the suggestion that perhaps the thought of invit-
ing me to meet Mrs. Evans was latent in Mr. Wellington’s mind
on the afternoon of the 10th, although it did not break into con-
sciousness until he saw the seat where Mrs. Evans had been ac-
customed to sit with his mother, which would ordinarily be ac-
cepted as the rational account of its genesis. And that this latent
thought which did not have energy enough to apprise the thinker
312 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of its existence excepting when an event suggested it, yet
somehow had energy enough to travel a hundred miles, and both
impinge upon and emerge in an alien consciousness. But why go
to Mrs. West? She did not know Mr. Wellington. She had never
heard of him or he of her. Where, then, was the rapport which is
supposed to be necessary in order, so to speak, to wire the thought
message to a given destination? Are we to suppose that I was
the intermediate station, since both knew me ? Then we have the
conception that Mr. Wellington’s latent thought, so feeble that it
did not become conscious until 12 hours later, when something
occurred which would naturally suggest it, nevertheless travels a
hundred miles to me, still remains latent with me, yet travels on
with unabated zeal to another person eight miles distant and
bursts forth as a full fledged conviction carrying a name in its
beak! Why then, did not the name ** Mrs. F ” or “ Mrs.
P ,” the two ladies whom my friend did plan that I should
meet, though I actually did not do so, get carried to Mrs. West
instead ? In experimental telepathy it is found more favorable to
success that the agent shall consciously concentrate and think of
the thing to be transmitted. Anyone who can respect a conjecture
that a conjecturally latent thought was transmitted with an inter-
vening relay a hundred miles 12 hours in advance of its trans-
mitter becoming aware of it, ought to have respect for the logic
of small children who credit the stork theory of babies. But if
we are not to discard all we thought we had learned from experi-
mental telepathy, we have the puzzle before us, unexplained.
We shall have in all fairness to pay a little attention to the
spiritistic hypothesis in connection with the puzzle. Mrs. West,
it will be remembered, received her impression of the name “ Mrs.
Evans ” in connection with spiritistic “ business.” And the ex-
periments which I afterwards conducted with the lady, when I
came to know her face to face, to see i f she was capable of suc-
cesses in the way of straight telepathy, were all failures. Her case
further illustrates what is said in my paper before the Congress in
Copenhagen. (See Journal for Dec., 1921, section 21.) Mrs.
West’s subjective experience was that she had a vision of a woman
dressed in white who told her to address the letter to Mrs. Evans,
and her other correct and remarkable intimations came in a spir-
itistic setting.
The Case of Mrs. West.
313
Let us at least be fair to the spiritistic hypothesis. If spirits
are engaged in the task of helping us to solve the problems on
which we are engaged, at least some of them should be credited
with the ability to plan as intelligently as we can do. If the cross-
correspondence phenomena, of the peculiar kind which broke out
in England soon after the death of F. H. W. Myers, was the plan
of himself and his colleagues, it was surely an intelligent one.
Let us suppose that Wellington’s mother, who purported to
communicate through my daughter, was really doing so. Let us
suppose that some discamate intelligence who had been interested
in the previous messages of Mrs. West to me was also drawn to
the spot, which is a most likely thing on the theory we are discuss-
ing. Mrs. Wellington says, “ I was in the woods and saw you on
the hillside. And I have not left the home. I know not the other.
I love the woods. ... I am glad the gentleman is going to see
the woods.” Why was she glad — because I would have the testi-
mony of my own eyes that the references to the woods, et al.,
were correct? Then she had some idea of giving evidence, per-
haps in consequence of conversation with that other spirit present
(the woman in white?) who knew my desire for evidence and
had already been instrumental in giving me evidence. The very
observations about the woods might have been the preface of the
proposed further proof, that of giving the name “ Mrs. Evans,"
that of the woman who also used to go to the woods. Or by
association of ideas, the name might have occurred to her after
the sentences were written. The two, Mrs. Wellington and, say,
the woman in white, could then have carried out the benevolent
plot conceived for the purpose of giving the best evidence yet.
The woman in white at the proper time goes and impresses the
name “ Mrs. Evans ” and the fact that she lives at Delaware
Water Gap on the mind of Mrs. West. Mrs. Wellington waits
some 12 hours longer, and then, as we stand viewing the bench
in the woods, produces an impression upon her son’s mind, rous-
ing or at least reenforcing an association of ideas, for Mr. Wel-
lington told me afterward, “ I felt impelled to take you to Mrs.
Evans." Once granted that there are living people “ on the other
side ’’ who can get any impressions through to us, and this would
be a simple and natural account. Instead of absolute foreknowl-
edge of a future event contingent upon human volition and yet
314 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
at the time not intended, we should have a prediction of the same
species to which mine belongs when I say that I shall have an in-
terview with Mr. Jones this afternoon. I say this because we two
have planned to bring the interview about, and, providing they
exist at all, the woman in white might have made the implied pre-
diction because she and Mrs. Wellington contrived the way to
fulfil it. And instead of the paradoxical latent intention, too
weak to rise into the consciousness of the brain, common to both,
yet strong enough to proceed by hops a hundred miles, and finally
to break through into the consciousness of an alien brain, without
giving an account either of the deferred feeling of impulsion later
on at one end of the journey, or the peculiar vision at the other
end, — instead of this incoherent complication, I say, we have the
simple concert of two intelligent minds to carry out a common
purpose. The spiritistic theory, it must be admitted, would ex-
plain fully, easily and logically. I do not say that I believe in this
theory — of what importance is it whether I do or not ? The im-
portant thing is to exhibit the fact in all its bearings, and the logic
of the situation.
The “ Mrs. Evans ” incident, small as it is, bulks large in im-
portance. It constitutes a puzzle worthy to compare with that of
the St. Paul cross-correspondence, which was how there came to
be in the script of one of the parties to the experiments knowledge
of a certain error in the script of another and far-distant party, an
error related to St. Paul, to Peter and to Sir Oliver Lodge,
when not a person in the world knew of the error until eight years
afterward. ( See Journal of A. S. P. R., Sept., 1917, pp. 502-533.1
(Concluded in July issue.)
M
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
315
PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND THE PHYSICIAN.
By E. Pierre Mallett, M. D.
( Second Part )
I shall now proceed to show that the psychic elements in the
primordial cells were not acquired like the physical in the long
evolutionary process but were inherent in them, and indistinguish-
able from life itself. Psychic growth may seem not to have kept
pace with the physical; but on the other hand is, in all probability,
only following the inscrutable laws of the Divine Architect of the
Universe. I shall now submit the following as questions of fact,
to be settled by evidence and not as a matter of philosophical
speculation.
Man is a psychological being, made up of myriads of living
cells, each one of which is endowed with psychological powers,
performs psychological functions, and is controlled by psycholog-
ical energy’. Hudson very clearly and logically states this as
follows :
" The force or energy which controls the bodily functions
from within is a mental energy. The initial impulse which stimu-
lates and controls the functions of each and every cell of the body
is necessarily a mental impulse proceeding from a central intelli-
gence. The central intelligence necessarily operates through ap-
propriate mechanism (nervous system) upon subordinate intelli-
gences. These subordinate intelligences are the myriads of cells
of which the whole body is composed (Edison estimates them as
100,000,000,000,000), each of which is an intelligent entity en-
dowed with powers commensurate with the functions it performs.
This mental energy, which has never proved amenable to physical
laws, and cannot be expressed in terms of matter, and motion, is
analogous to telepathy, or rather the phenomenon we call telepathy
is one of the manifestations of this energy.”
If this is so in our living bodies, it is certainly a justifiable
conclusion, and also a good working hypothesis to assume that
this psychological energy or cell intelligence which controls the
-316 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
bodily functions through the sympathetic nervous system is not a
by-product of the anatomical brain and body cells, but was their
creator and used them (the body) as its material instrument ; that
when death of the material body takes place, this psychological
energy, subjective mind, soul, spirit, vital principle or whatever it
may be called — and which is not subject to analysis by material
methods — separates itself from the material body and escapes into
the unknown, and ceases to functionate through that particular
form of matter and therefore becomes invisible to us. So far the
most exacting scientists must accept these facts, and the only de-
batable point will be whether the subjective mind or psychological
energy antedated and created the body cells, or is a by-product of
the cells themselves. It is axiomatic in evolutionary science that
the potentialities of manhood reside in the lowest unicellular
organism. That the central intelligence controls the bodily func-
tions through the intelligent cells is beyond dispute. For the in-
telligent cells to hand over this control of themselves to their own
product — to “ Frankenstein ” themselves, so to speak, is highly
improbable, to say the least, and not in accord with the facts of
nature.
Now, for the facts of the subjective mind, or psychological
energy, or spirit, and a working hypothesis to explain the possi-
bilities of communication of the subjective minds of the living
with those of the dead, in the sense of the death of the material
parts of the body cells only.
Huxley says that anyone who has studied the history of
science knows that almost every step therein has been made by
anticipation of nature, that is by the invention of hypotheses. A
hypothesis may be true or false, but if it accounts for the facts
and works just as if it were true, it is strong corroborative evi-
dence of its correctness, until it is proved otherwise. The evolu-
tion of the cells cannot be taken up in an article of this length, and
character, but on tracing the ancestry of man backward to the
first sign of life and mind in unorganized protoplasm, Haeckel
says that " the subjective mind antedated the objective mind by
untold millions of years, and that during more than one-half of
all the millions of years that have elapsed since the beginning of
organic life on this planet, no animal possessing a brain was in
existence. It becomes evident then that the brain is a product of
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
31 7
organic evolution, so that the idea of the brain secreting thought
as the liver secretes bile is not in accord with the evolutionary
findings. Intelligence must have existed before structure. The
idea must first exist, how to build and what to build, and from the
facts of evolutionary science it must appear that a separate intelli-
gent force must exist in the universe distinct from matter. As
Lodge puts it, “ Life and mind and consciousness do not belong
to the material region. Whatever they are in themselves, they
are manifestly something quite distinct from matter and energy,
and yet they utilize our material body and dominate it.”
For a clearer understanding of the foregoing general state-
ment, I want to stress three vitally important biological truths,
the understanding and acceptance of which will greatly simplify
this most intricate problem, and upon which it will be necessary
to elaborate somewhat.
1. That the psychic elements in man have not been acquired
by him through the evolutionary development of an organic brain,
but that psychological phenomena have been shown to be inherent
in the lowest organism ; and furthermore, that they are the essen-
tial phenomena of life itself, inherent in all protoplasm. There-
fore psychic phenomena instead of being supernatural are only
supernormal, because of our ignorance of the laws governing
them. This, I shall show, is maintained and sustained by biolo-
gists and not psychologists.
2. That the subjective mind, soul, spirit, or “ Tissue Soul,”
of Haeckel, etc., are all one and the same thing, which thing is the
sculptor and builder of the body, directs and controls all the sep-
arate “ cell souls," and is the higher psychological function which
gives physiological individuality to the compound multicellular
organism known as the body.
3. That all living forms are constructed from one single
primordial substance, a structureless atom of plasma, which
Haeckel says is the “ basis of the elementary organism.” Huxley
calls it the physical basis of life; or, more exactly stated, it is the
basis of the material medium through which life manifests itself.
This last conclusion has no direct bearing on the particular
phase of psychic phenomena which we have so far discussed,
that is, telepathy, or supernormal communications. It is intro-
duced more for completeness of the subject and, to the analytical
318 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
mind would seem to open up a way along supernormal physiology
towards the explanation of that most astonishing phenomenon
called materialization through mediums which will be referred
to again.
I shall not ask you to follow me through the long phylogenetic
development of the moneron to the man. In the Biblical descrip-
tion of this phenomenon it took six days to produce man and his
environment. In another place, by the same authority, it is also
said that, “ A thousand years in the sight of the Lord is but as
one day,” so that it would be difficult to compute the actual time
consumed in that evolutionary journey of the simple little moneron
to the man of today. Suffice it to say that he arrived and his
physical Simian pedigree has been accepted by all, though religion
strenuously opposed it for a while as being too lowly an origin
for man, made in the image of God. However, the thought I am
endeavoring to impress upon you now is just as revolutionary and
antagonistic to your preconceived ideas and prejudices as the evo-
lutionary process of man from the moneron was to religion. To
do so I must again go back to the original moneron to prove to
you that the psychic elements in man can trace their ancestry just
as far back as the physical — in fact it would appear that man’s
physical attributes have all been acquired and developed during
this evolutionary journey, while his psychic elements were heredi-
tary and were the real impelling forces that made his evolutionary
progress possible. The potentialities of personality, conscious-
ness, memory and will seem to have been inherent in the moneron,
and these psychic elements, or subjective mind, have developed
pari passu with the physical, so that today they dominate the
material body and are now declaring that they do not die with the
body, but retain their personality and consciousness and are
immortal.
So I beg that you bear with me a few moments longer in the
description of some of the psychic characteristics of this pri-
mordial substance or germ from which all living creatures on this
planet have been developed through the process of organic evolu-
tion. When a protozoon, or single cell organism, joined forces
with a number of others for their common protection and com-
munity interests and became a metazoon or pluricellular organism,
it did not lose its individuality or original characteristics, any
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
319
more than do the thousands of individuals who today compose a
large commercial aggregation, like Armour’s Packing House, for
example. Like the individuals in Armour’s, they each became
specialized in one part of the work, from the executioner who
wields the sledge or knife upon the animals as they are driven
into the shute, up to the pretty girl who wraps up the finished
products — be it buttons made from the blood, or the wax cylinder
which records the last squeal of the pig on the phonograph, or the
silk purse made from the sow’s ear.
In the same way the individual cells specialize in all the neces-
sary duties involved in keeping a living body in working order
and repairing the damages incidental to the wear and tear of life,
accident or disease. Some become muscle cells, others connective
tissue, bone, brains, nerve, nails, secretive, excretive, scavengers,
fighters of germ invaders, so-called “ defensive forces of the
body,” and the numerous other cell-differentiations that go to
make up a living body. The point I wish to stress is that they
were all highly endowed cells before they joined the aggregation
and continued to retain all of their fundamental characteristics
even after they had taken on a specialty. Each cell had a mind of
its own; in fact there seems to be no possible line to be drawn
between life and mind. Binet ( Psychic Life of Micro-organisms)
says that psychological phenomena begin in the lowest organisms
and that they are the essential phenomena of life, inherent in all
protoplasm. The inherent knowledge a moneron possesses is
preservation of life and perpetuation of its species, locomotion,
digestion, assimilation and choice of food. Moebius says it has
memory. Gates says it has a sense of location and will go to the
same place for food. Binet also says it is susceptible to emotions
of surprise and fear. Haeckel says it has feeling and will react
to stimulation. Verworn says it adapts means to ends, near and
remote, as shown by experiments with difflugia.
In the cell and lower animals, the materialist calls this instinct
and in man intuition — a distinction without a difference, a mere
juggling of words, intuition being only a higher and more com-
plex development of instinct. Hudson defines them as follows :
Instinct, or intuition, is the power possessed by each sentient be-
ing, in proportion to its development and in harmony with its
environment, to perceive or apprehend, antecedently to and inde-
320 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
pendently of reason or instruction, those laws of Nature which
pertain to the well-being of the individual and of the species to
which it belongs.
I hope you will grant that I have shown by authority that
each cell was wonderfully endowed before it became differentiated
in the body, and was intelligent enough to lead a separate exist-
ence before “ joining the Union ” — just like the operatives in
Armour’s; that in each case they subsequently specialized, and,
in the case of the cells, became highly efficient in the performance
of their individual functions as any student of physiology will
testify.
Two important functions remain to be established before either
Armour Packing Plant or the human body can operate with the
greatest efficiency and team work, first, an intelligent Director
of the Plant — or of the body — who conceived the idea. Second,
rapid and direct communication between director and each indi-
vidual worker in the plant — or each individual cell of the body.
In Armour’s the orders come from the Director’s office to the
heads of the various departments and from them to the individual
workers. In the human body the orders come from the ego, soul,
spirit, or subjective mind to the brain and various nerve ganglia,
and from them to the individual cells. In Armour’s the communi-
cation may be by voice, messenger, telephone, bell or flashlight,
but in the human body the means of communication is by mental
impulse through nerve contact, and for this end is provided a
dense network of highly sensitive nerves leading from the brain
through the cerebro-spinal and sympathetic nervous systems and
reaching every individual cell by contact through delicate terminal
nerve filaments. Supplementing this wonderful service are the
“ chemical messengers,” or hormones, which are secreted by
special glands which are activated by nerve impulses. These
travel by an equally extensive and intricate system of canals — the
blood-vessels, and thus the myriad of individual cells of the body
are enabled to live, move and perform their appointed function as
one. Perhaps some who have not given this cell life any study or
thought may think that I am drawing on my imagination, or that
I am quoting “ old stuff ” of Haeckel, Binet, Verwom and others
that won’t stand in these more advanced times.
C. H. Mayo in an article on Carcinoma, read at the American
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
321
Medical Association meeting in Boston, June, 1921, asks " in the
period of evolutionary life, when two or more types of cells be-
come grouped to develop multicellular life and live a community
existence, was the control over the cell a community control or an
individual cell control ?” He then speculates as to the probability
of community control of the individual cell, or the individual con-
trol by some granule within the cell in its relation to cancerous
degeneration.
McCarty also of the Mayo Clinic, quoted by C. H. Mayo in
the same article says, “ My observations have revealed a biological
reaction which is malignant only in so far as it destroys the com-
munistic organization of the cells.” The three fundamental bio-
logical reactions to destructions he says are hypertrophy, hyper-
plasia and migration, and that they are found in practically all
cancer cells regardless of location of organ or tissue. He further
says, “ In fact many biologists are of the opinion that exposure
of living matter to destructive factors has led to adaptive poten-
tialities that are factors of safety in the structure and functions
of all forms of life. Nature has been just as efficient in her de-
fensive preparation as in the construction of the human body.”
MacCarty then goes into biological details in regard to the special-
ization and differentiation of the community life that I have de-
scribed. He then says “ In the light of biology these reactions
(hypertrophy, hyperplasia and migration) may be interpreted as
hyperactivity against antagonistic things and forces, increase of
mass action against such antagonists, and attempt at change of
environment, all of which are defensive reactions and constitute
the essential means of self-preservation.” No intelligent reader
of this medical Journal can accuse the Editors of any leaning
towards an intelligent psycho-dynamic force in the body, but
could any stronger argument for such a force be made than the
following: “ The resistance of the body to the encroachment of
infectious diseases involves both cellular and humoral defenses.
Which group of defensive mechanisms — the purely chemical bac-
tericidal immunologic factors (chemical messengers) or the pha-
gocytic cells — breaks down first when a severe collapse of re-
sistence occurs has not been clearly ascertained.” Now translate
these biological reactions of the individual cells, to the aggrega-
tions of cells called man — in his reactions against antagonistic
322 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
things and forces for instance in the late war — hypertrophy get-
ting in the best physical condition individually and massing forces
— hyperplasia, steel helmets, gas masks, trenches, sand-bags, etc. ;
migration — over the top, or out of the rear exit of trench as valor
or discretion indicated. How simple it all becomes when you ad-
mit intelligence and mind in the cell and how ridiculous to try to
conceive non-vitalized matter as putting up a defensive reaction —
as William James says in an automatic message : To shut the eyes
to everything but the physical is a laughable condition and our
men of medicine are mostly ridiculous, but don’t tell them I
said so.”
Now as I have shown that the psychic elements in the cells
are the essential phenomena of life and are inherent in all
protoplasm, why need we consider psychic phenomena as some-
thing outside, or supernatural at all, rather than merely super-
normal, did we understand the laws governing them? Just here
I want to elaborate for a moment on the psychogenesis of the cell,
so as to lay a foundation for the explanation of the phenomenon
of materialization — a phenomenon so extraordinary to one who
has never investigated it as to seem the limit of scientific audacity
or hopeless incredulity. But, notwithstanding, it has been attested
and verified by sight and touch as well as photographed by num-
bers of scientific observers whose testimony cannot be denied.
Fortunately this foundation has already been laid by Haeckel
( Evolution of Man) who, speaking of the lowest grades of or-
ganic individuality, thp moneron and the cell, says, “ Both grades
are grouped together under the idea of sculptors or builders, be-
cause they alone in reality build the organism." And further,
“ All properties which the multicellular, highly developed animal
possesses, appear in each cell, at least in its youth, and we may
therefore regard it as the basis of our physiological idea of the
elementary organism.” Haeckel again (Riddle of the Universe )
inspeaking of the dynamic force governing the cell, calls it the
“ tissue soul ” — and says, " This tissue soul is the higher psy-
chological function which gives physiological individuality to the
compound multicellular organism, as a true cell commonwealth —
it controls all the separate " cell souls " of the social cells — the
mutually dependent ‘ Citizens which constitute the community.’ ”
From the observations and statements of the various biologists
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
323
I have quoted, Haeckel, Huxley, Binet, Maebus, Gates, Verwom
and others, the following brief conclusions can, I think, be drawn
without prejudice :
1. That all living forms are constructed from one single
primordial substance.
2. That there exists some psycho-dynamic force in every
living organism.
3. That this directing dynamic force must itself obey some-
thing higher.
Now let us look at the observations and conclusions of Dr.
Geley of Lyons, France, and the other scientists associated with
him, as stated in an important contribution towards the problem
of life itself, entitled, “ The So-called Supernormal Phenomena
of Thought Sculpture.” Though attacking the subject from op-
posite points of view, the biologists and the psychologists seem
to come remarkably close to the same conclusions. In this paper
Dr. Geley discusses the creative processes of materialized organ-
isms as seen and demonstrated by Prof. Schrenck-Notzing, Aksa-
koff, Charles, Richet, Crookes, Crawford, de Rochas, Dr. Max-
well, Flournoy, Wallace, himself and others. He describes this
materialization or thought sculpture as follows :
“ Before our eyes we have seen a single substance (named
Ectoplasm by Richet) exuding from the body of the medium,
and we have seen that substance transfoming itself into hands,
faces and complete bodies, possessing all' the attributes of life,
flesh and blood. Then we have seen these* forms dissolve and re-
enter in an instant, the body of the medium.” His conclusion was
that there existed in the materialized organisms no actual muscu-
lar or nervous substance, but only one substance which assumed
these forms. In normal physiology there is also but one sub-
stance. He admitted that proof of this was hard to obtain, but
that the insect form shut out from light and air in the protecting
encasement of a chrysalis formed a striking analogy. At a certain
period in its development this insect dissolves into a creamy
primordial mass precisely similar to the protoplasm that exuded
from the body of the medium. This creamy substance then re-
organizes itself into an entirely different entity. These facts
point to the following deductions :
324 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
1. A single primordial substance,
2. A psychic-dynamic force.
3. The creative idea.
Now compare the conclusions, one drawn from the material-
istic point of view and the other from the psychological. They
both agree on the first — “ a single primordial substance.” The
second — “ A psycho-dynamic force ” — is admitted by both, and
will not be disputed from the fact that the sum of knowledge pos-
sessed by man of all physiological processes makes the admitting
of this organic force necessary. The third — “ the creative idea "
— with all that its acceptance implies from the psychological stand-
point, will be vigorously combatted by the materialist. However,
no more uncompromising materialist than Haeckel exists, and
while he was not discussing the phyletic psycho-genesis of the
cell from the standpoint of the new psychology, he oertainly comes
to its support most manfully. In his " Riddle of the Universe "
already quoted, in speaking of the dynamic governing force of the
cells he speaks of the “ tissue soul," as he calls it, as “ the higher
psychological function which gives physiological indhHduality to
the compound multicellular organism. It controls all the cell
souls — the materially dependent citizens which constitute the com-
munity.” Could any more accurate description than this be given
to Dr. Geley’s “ the creative idea,” or a more logical deduction
drawn ? Dr. Geley then concludes, “ We have here a total re-
versal of material physiology. The living being can no longer
consider himself a simple complex of cells ; the living being is a
product of psychic force moulded by a creative idea.
As I said before, the phenomena of materialization have been
so little studied in this country as compared with European in-
vestigations, that it will seem utterly incredible to those who have
given it no study, and I only introduce it for completeness of the
subject and also with the hope that by putting it upon a physiolog-
ical basis — supernormal as it appears to us now — it may be con-
sidered without prejudice and not regarded as an hallucination as
heretofore.
Therefore (it is not a mere assumption, but a logical conclu-
sion) from the facts brought out in the study of evolutionary'
science that the subjective mind not only antedated the objective
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
325
mind by millions of years, but that it was the creator of the
primordial cells, and not their product. Consequently there is no
reason whatever to believe that when the protoplasmic cell, which
it dominates in this life, dies, it should die also. In the light of
modem science the principle of evolution is familiar to all, and
the accurate adjustment existing between all parts of the cosmic
scheme is too evident to dwell upon. If the work of the greatest
minds (Darwin, Huxley, or others) consists in nothing else than
the recognition of an already existing order, the conclusion that
a wonderful intelligence, the creative idea, must be inherent in the
life principle which manifests itself as this order is not only
logical but irrefutable. Whether you believe with Troward that,
“ the subjective mind in ourselves is the same subjective mind
which is at work throughout the Universe giving rise to the infini-
tude of natural forms with which we are surrounded, and is like-
wise giving rise to ourselves,” or whether you prefer this cosmic
energy, creative idea, or Universal Mind, to take more of an an-
thropomorphic form — a personal God — is immaterial. As a mat-
ter of fact, science has proved that there is a life principle acting
throughout the universe. Psychology proves that man, as the
highest exponent of this life principle, is endowed with a dual
mind, objective and subjective. That the subjective mind has
powers far transcending those exercised by the objective mind
through the medium of the physical senses, is beyond dispute and
will not be discussed. It has been shown that the subjective mind
controlling the intelligent cells is the sculptor and builder of the
body, and that the power of creating by growth from within is its
essential characteristic. It follows then that the life principle act-
ing through Nature is the same force acting throughout the cells,
and is the vivifying principle which animates matter.
Again quoting from Hudson (Evolution of the Soul) — “ Like
every other faculty, organ or agency in Nature or human affairs
it had a simple beginning. Like everything else of value to man-
kind it has developed by a series of progressive stops to a state of
wonderful complexity. It has kept pace with the physical devel-
opment of animal life, and with the mental development of hu-
manity, until now it is the most wonderful faculty known to man ;
it is the most potential force below that of omnipotence; it is the
most gigantic intellectual attribute below that of omniscence ; it
326 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
is the subjective mind of man; it is the mental organism of the
human soul.”
It must now be evident to one following my argument care-
fully, how the seemingly impossible connection between spirit and
matter, or soul and body, can be affected through the dual minds
of man. The objective mind being in intimate connection with
the material world through its physical senses, or anatomical
brain, while the subjective mind, controlling the functions of the
body, and being part substance with the cosmic force, or universal
mind, the bridging of that seemingly impassable chasm between
spirit and matter is accomplished. Epes Sargent, a poetic thinker
and man of letters, expresses this union of spirit and matter so
concisely and in such accurate conformity with the biological and
physiological facts, their separation and the subsequent evolution-
ary progress of the spiritual portion, also in perfect accord with
the psychological findings, that I quote him as follows :
1. Man is an organized duality, consisting of an organic
spiritual form, evolved coincidentally with and pervading his
physical body.
2. Death is the separation of this duality and effects no im-
mediate change in spirit, either intellectually or morally.
3. Progressive evolution of the moral and intellectual nature
is the destiny of individuals; the knowledge, experience, and at-
tainments of earth life form the basis of the spiritual life.
These conclusions are all confirmed with remarkable uni-
formity by innumerable automatic messages, one of which, quoted
by Sir Oliver Lodge, is in such perfect accord with Sargent’s con-
clusions just read that I will conclude with it, as follows:
“We live in a place where the only test is character. The man
arriving here finds this world very much what he has made it.
You see the result of your life’s work, thoughts and deeds. You
make your next life; you do it day by day, hour by hour. There
is no sudden transformation ; you are as you were. What burdens
the soul most is selfishness. What helps most is love. Every
man goes to the place he has made for himself according as his
life has been.” Could any human being who has given this most
vital subject the slightest intellectual consideration formulate a
more logical, just and merciful solution of the next life than this?
Does it not fulfil every promise of a loving, just and merciful
Psychic Phenomena and the Physician.
327
God? Is it not in perfect accord with the spirit and teachings of
Christ himself? As a philosophical conception only it would be
sublime, but supported as it is by indisputable evolutionary facts
and supplemented by most careful and painstaking psychological
investigations, it becomes logically incontrovertible.
Therefore, I maintain that it can be claimed that the sub-
jective mind of the living can and does, by a process as yet un-
known to us, communicate with other subjective minds of the
living; that it also can and does, by means of the same process,
afford a means of communication between the minds of the living
and of the dead, and that it also may be the means of communica-
tion between the minds of the dead themselves. And furthermore,
that the theory of the subjective mind in the living, and the so-
called spirits of the dead being of one and the same substance, is a
good working hypothesis to explain this most intricate and im-
portant problem of mankind — because it accounts for the facts.
Physiology sustains it. Biology sustains it. Psychology sustains
it Evolutionary science sustains it. The Bible and religion of
Jesus Christ sustains it. The personal experience and observation
of thousands of both intelligent and ignorant races of peoples
from every known land and from the earliest records of the hu-
man race, sustain it. Logically, according to Kant, there is no
internal contradiction and it is, therefore, as good as proved that
the human soul, even in this life, stands in indissoluble community
with all immaterial natures of the spirit world, that it naturally
acts upon them and receives from them impressions, and that on
the other side of dissolution mental activity must continue and
must be interacting with other mental activity.
Some may say, “ Well, suppose we admit your argument that
there is a continuance of personality after death, and it is as you
say, what of it ? ”
To such I say, quoting from Dr. McComb (Future life in the
Light of Modern Inquiry): " If we are able to demonstrate that,
justly, the happiness of each is jointly and severally concerned in
the general progress, if we are all responsible, then the strong
should labor to raise the weak; it will serve no end to hate and
impose upon them. Thus we come, by the simple knowledge of
the laws of evolution, under the great law of Christ : there is no
other issue save to love one another and live each for the other.
328 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
That is the true scientific revelation which gives us the key to a
solid, practical and rational moral teaching."
No investigations in physics, chemistry, astronomy or any
other science can equal this in its importance and influence, upon
the present conduct and the future destiny of the human race. It
cannot be silenced by the supercilious smile of ignorance or scien-
tific contempt, but only by earnest and painstaking study and in-
vestigation can its truth or falsity be established. So, as Sir
Oliver Lodge enjoins, “ Let us be cautious and critical and scep-
tical as we like, but also let us be patient, persevering and fair.
Do not let us start with a preconceived notion of what is possible
and what is not possible in this almost unexplored universe. Let
us only be willing to learn and be guided by facts and not dogmas,
and gradually truth will pervade our understanding and make for
itself a place in our fninds as secure as in any other branch of
observational science.”
My paper may be disappointing from a theatrical point of
view — no accounts of marvelous phenomena, etc. While I have
had a number of most interesting experiences in the psych if,
much more interesting accounts of the phenomena can be obtained
from the numerous books on the subject; but my object has been
to attract the scientific mind — the “ mind from Missouri," which
first must be shown that there is a scientific basis underlying this
phenomenon before he will take the slightest interest in it, and so
those tiresome excursions into the physiological and biological
highways and hedges to show you that I am only following the
path already blazed by the pioneers but long obscured by the over-
growth of materialism.
Double Photographs.
329
DOUBLE PHOTOGRAPHS.
By J. W. Hayward, M. Sc.
The art of taking double photographs, or making two pictures
appear as one is both interesting and entertaining. That it gives
scope to great ingenuity is exemplified in many popular films.
Some enthusiasts have modestly endeavored to hide from the
public their own cleverness in the art by suggesting the assistance
of spirits. Other photographers occasionally obtain unexpected
combinations of faces or figures by accident or oversight.
The writer once saw a snap shot of a lady in a wide sunbon-
net. In the shadow where the face should have been appeared, at
first sight, a grinning death’s head! On closer inspection the im-
pression of a skull proved to be built up from a very small portrait
of the same lady sitting under a tree. Both pictures had been
^ken during a picnic and, by mistake, upon the same negative.
Still other photographers get results which they are quite un-
able to explain. Those interested in psychical research and ab-
normal phenomena are often called upon to express an opinion
upon all three kinds of pictures. It seems therefore that a short
description of the photographic process may be of use to those
readers unacquainted with it, to assist them in picking out from
among the large number of double photographs, so to speak,
“ on the market ” those few which do not fit into the current
scheme of material things, and which cannot be accounted for out
of our present stock of knowledge concerning chemistry, physics
and human nature.
The production of a photograph is primarily a chemical pro-
cess carried out in two steps. The photographic plate used in the
camera is a sheet of glass (or celluloid) covered with an opaque
emulsion of gelatine containing some compounds of silver. This
plate is prepared in a dull red light, it does not, however, change
its appearance upon a short exposure to white light. It is impos-
sible to tell the difference between an exposed and an unexposed
plate by examination, but, if the two are immersed in one or
other of certain chemical solutions, called developers, the silver
330 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
compounds on the exposed plate will decompose and make a black
deposit of silver in the gelatine. No change will take place in the
unexposed plate. There are few facts or experiences more amaz-
ing than this, when one comes to think of it.
If the plates are now washed and immersed in another solu-
tion, called the fixing bath, the undecomposed salts will be washed
out, leaving in the one case dear gelatine, in the other gelatine
blackened with silver.
If, instead of exposing the whole of the second plate to white
light, we cover it with a transparent picture, — say of a head with
black hair, — considerable light will pass through the dear part of
the face and the whites of the eyes, less through the shadows on
the face and none through the dark hair. Consequently the plate
after development and fixing will show a dark face with white
hair. It is therefore called a negative, because the light and shade
are reversed. To obtain a true copy of the original picture we
simply use it as a transparency to cover a second plate, or an
emulsion coated paper, and proceed with exposure and develop-
ment as before. As in the well known rule of grammar “ two
negatives make a positive.”
A dirty or badly mixed developer will make douds or spots
on the negative, especially if it is an old one. Some plates were
once left by the writer in a dark slide for over two years and when
finally exposed and developed they made quite good pictures, ex-
cept that they were marked with finger prints, where they had
been touched in putting them into the slide. A search for the
reason of an unexpected cloud appearing on a plate, left over-
night in a laboratory drawer, led to the discovery of radium.
Now let us go a step further and expose our photographic
plate first under one transparent picture and then under another.
The dear parts of the second picture that come over opaque parts
of the first will be reproduced on the negative, and the dear parts
of the first picture which come under opaque parts of the second
will also appear. Thus a number of pictures of faces, taken
against a dark background can be combined into one negative.
We must next consider the part played in photography by the
camera.
Every object which produces, or reflects, light throws off
waves (or vibrations) of various sizes in all directions, Waves
Double Photographs.
331
have the peculiar property of being able to pass through one an-
other without interference, and the lens of the eye, or that of the
camera, has the peculiar property of changing the direction of
those light waves which strike it, in a greater or less degree, ac-
cording to the point upon which they strike, so as to bring to-
gether again at a certain distance behind the lens all those waves
coming to it from a particular point in front. Thus if we aim
the camera at a pin head, all the waves reaching its lens from the
pin head will be brought together so as to form a picture of that
object somewhere inside the camera. If a photographic plate is
placed at this point the waves will affect it just as if they had
reached it through an actual transparent picture of the pin head,
and a negative will be obtained as in “ contact ” exposure. Find-
ing the position of the picture in the camera is called focusing.
Some waves which have little or no chemical effect on a photo-
graphic plate give us the sensation of red light through our eyes
and of heat through our fingers. Other waves, the ultra violet
ones, will affect the plate and will also give us “ sunburn ”, though
we cannot see them. The very short ultra-violet waves, and the
X-rays, which are shorter still, are not deflected by a glass lens, so
we cannot obtain a definite picture with them in a camera ; but
we can use them for contact exposures, and, as some of them will
pass through substances (such as flesh and blood) which stop
visible waves, we can by their aid obtain chemical pictures of
things which we cannot see, such as our bones.
Some substances have the property of giving off ordinary
light waves when struck by ultra-violet waves or X-rays. Thus
the presence of these can be detected directly as well as by the
round about processes of photography. These materials range
from some kinds of diamond to ordinary coal oil, but a chemical
known as Barium-Platino-Cyanide is the substance mostly used
in X-ray work.
Fortified with the above facts let us see how a modest pho-
tographer could hide from a client the means by which he adds a
second face, or some writing, or even a ghostly halo, to her por-
trait, if he wishes to do so. (We will call the client she merely for
clearness in the use of pronouns.) She would, no doubt, bring
her own box of plates. The photographer would look this over
and if it were of a standard make he might risk substituting, by
332 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
legerdemain, a similar box of previously exposed plates, from his
own varied assortment. There are less than a dozen kinds of
plates in common use. In selecting pictures he would be guided
by the probability that his client would prefer one out of the fol-
lowing list :
A baby face.
A fair boy, girl, man or woman.
A dark boy, girl, man or woman.
Nine variations. Therefore he could satisfy, on the average, one
client out of nine at the first exposure, and any client after two
sittings with four or five exposures at each.
Having inspected the box of plates, the photographer will
take his client into his dark room. Under the red light he
will ask her to open the box, take out two plates and put them
in the dark slide ready for exposure. He may ask her to initial
the plates so that she can recognize the particular pair again. He
can do this safely if substitution has already been made. In any
case he will most likely make a point of not handling the plates
himself at this juncture, but he may just touch one of them with
a finger tip to assist a clumsy or nervous person, and, i f that finger
tip had on it a little strong developing solution, or fixing solution,
a dark or light cloud would ultimately appear upon the negative.
He will next ask his client to examine the camera and espe-
cially the lens, in this way he finds out how much she knows
about such things. The examination proving satisfactory he will
pose her for the portrait against a dark background and proceed
to focus the camera. For that purpose he has to cover the back
of it with a dark cloth under which he puts his head and one of
his hands. Whilst focusing he has ample opportunity to insert
a transparency where it will stand immediately in front of the
plate when being exposed.
He can now take the slide containing the marked plates which
the client will no doubt have kept in her possession, place it in
the camera in her sight, draw the shutter, expose first one plate
and then the other (doing a little “ focusing” in between), hand
the closed slide back to her, and ask her to take it into the dark
room. She may then open it, identify the plates, and develop
Double Photographs.
333
them herself and behold a face or a message will appear upon the
negative in addition to her own portrait.
In this example of double photography the cause of the phe-
nomenon is “ human nature ” ; in that resulting from the effects
of radium it was a chemico-physical reaction previously unsus-
pected.
These examples are not unique. They point to interesting
lines of investigation, this leading to new conceptions of the ulti-
mate composition of matter, that (let us hope) to some apprecia-
tion of those reactions of the mind which make some persons
honest and others dishonest.
Other examples will undoubtedly occur as a result of condi-
tions as yet but partially understood or, it may be, altogether
hidden even from the leaders of scientific thought. The wisest of
us really know very little when all is said, and the only way to
learn more is to observe, and to use what knowledge we have in
making deductions from our observations.
V. tOOQIC
334 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENTS.
SOME ODD DETAILS OP PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Reported By H. P. Bellows, M. D.
Premonition of a Fire.
Document 1.
May 23rd, 1918.
My Dear Mr. Whitehead:
Miss Bates has just reminded me that I have not yet written to
you about the incident at the Hotel Nottingham, as I promised to do.
I went there to spend the night on an occasion when I was un-
able to get the last boat down to my cottage. I was about to go
to bed as usual when the feeling came to me, very distinctly, that
it would be wise only to partially undress as there was going to be
a fire in the hotel pretty soon. So I lay upon the outside of the bed,
only partly undressed and with everything packed in my bag. I
had dozed off into half-sleep when I heard the bells of fire ap-
paratus coming nearer and nearer. I looked from the window and
saw a chemical engine and hook and ladder draw up almost below
me. At the same time the smell of smoke came in from the hall
outside my room. I quickly dressed and then divided my time be-
tween the window and the hall door — watching chiefly the incipient
panic among the occupants of the hotel as the smoke increased.
Soon, however, I saw the firemen come out to the street and drive
away. Then I retired at once in a proper manner, with quiet mind,
and slept soundly till morning. I felt at no time any sense of fear
or anxiety — it simply seemed something which was “ in the books ”
to happen.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) Howard P. Bellows.
Document 2.
Letter written by the Research Officer to Dr. Bellows, Oct. 14,
1921.
Incidents.
335
Dear Sir: 1 !
The Rev. John Whitehead has confidentially imparted to me the
incident relating to your apparent promonition of a fire, and sug-
gests my writing to you.
Would you be kind enough to state :
1. The date or approximate date of the experience.
2. How long a time elapsed between the impression and the
coming of the firemen.
3. Anything you learned as to the time, relatively to your im-
pression, of the actual starting of the fire.
4. Whether the fire could have been started already at the
moment when the impression first came.
5. In what part of the hotel the fire was, where your room was
located relatively to it, and the approximate distance between your-
self and the beginning of the fire.
Of course I am trying to test whether this could have been a
case of hypersesthesia of the olfactory sense, or perhaps a telepathic
impression.
Would you be willing that I should sometime use the incident,
with or without your name, in a group of similar ones, if later
thought desirable ?
I would be obliged to you for a reply,
Sincerely yours,
Principal Research Officer.
Document 3.
Dr. Bellows’s reply to the R. O. written Nov. 5th, 1921.
Dear Sir:
I am sorry so much time has elapsed since the receipt of your
letter of Oct. 14th. Replying to your questions I should say:
1. The date was approximately March, 1916.
2. Perhaps half an hour, I had partially undressed — laid my-
self upon the outside of the bed and was sleeping lightly when
awakened by the bells of the approaching fire apparatus.
3. Learned nothing as to this.
4. If it began as a slow or smouldering fire that might have
been the case.
336 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
5. The fire was in the basement and my room above it on the
fifth floor. The firemen entered a door directly under my room.
The distance five flights vertically and I do not know what distance
horizontally. When I opened my door into the hall I was struck
by the smell of the burning and the smoke was rapidly increasing
but I did not notice it until I opened the door. I am very positive
that there was neither smoke nor odor when I went to my room.
I much regret that I did not consult my watch as that would bear
upon the question of its being a telepathic impression. The dura-
tion of a nap is so indeterminate that it might not have been more
than two or three minutes instead of twenty or more. In that case
the fire might have been known to somebody and the alarm already
sent in.
You may use the incident in any way you see fit. I fear it has
little scientific value.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Howard P. Bellows.
Experience Illustrating the Illusions of Time Duration in
Dreams.
This is found in the letter of which the greater part has just
been given.
I had once a curious experience in regard to the duration of
sleep and of a dream. I awakened one night and found my throat
becoming sore and painful. Within reach of my hand was a vial
of homoeopathic pellets applicable to the condition. I put several
of the small pellets upon my tongue and immediately fell asleep
again. I had an unusually long dream full of detail and leaving a
vivid impression upon my memory. I awakened at the close of the
dream and the pellets in my mouth had not begun to dissolve to any
appreciable extent.
The following incidents from a paper by Dr. Bellows in the
New England Medical Gazette for March, 1918, were later kindly
furnished us.
Seeming Premonition.
I recall a cold winter’s night, in the first year of my practice,
when I was about to put out the lights in my office, at a rather late
Incidents.
33 7
hour, and go up stairs to bed. As I stooped over the lamp to blow
it out the thought came to me " You are going to be wanted soon in
a hurry and you’d better not undress but be all ready to go.” So
clear was the thought that I did not question it at all. I simply
turned down the light and stretched myself upon a lounge in the
office, covering myself with an afghan and going half asleep. Be-
fore I quite lost myself I heard the sound of footsteps crunching
in the snow as somebody in the distance came running up the street.
I thought "that must be the man coming for me.” A .minute
later he dashed up the walk to the house and began pulling the bell
■with one hand and pounding the door with a heavy stick in the other
hand, so great was the urgency. The call was to a confinement case
which was going badly, in a part of the town where I had never
been and in a family which I had never heard of.
Subliminal Recollection ?
On another occasion, three or four years later, I was seated in
my office one night, at the end of a long day’s work, studying a case
very intently in order to send a remedy by the moming mail to a
patient of mine who had moved to another city and who had written
me for a prescription, stating her symptoms with rather unusual ful-
ness and accuracy. It was not an ordinary combination of symptoms
and I was not a little puzzled as to its simillimum, after going over
a good number of remedies. It was after midnight, everybody had
retired and nothing interfered with my concentration, although I
was very tired. I sat back, weighing the remedies in my mind and
not satisfied with any of them, when the thought came clearly —
" Look up asarum.” I did not seem to know anything about that
drug and had never prescribed a dose of it in my life, but I turned
to my Jahr's “ New Manual or Symptomen-Codex,” published in
1848, but still one of the most valuable and highly prized works on
Materia Medica in my library, and there I found, in the symp-
tomarology of asarum just the complex which I was seeking. I
gave the remedy and it cured the case.
The former of these last two experiences was plainly an in-
stance of telepathy. In the second there was doubtless some knowl-
edge of the pathogenesis of asarum somewhere in the back of my
head, remaining from my student days, but it was odd that it should
recur to me in just that manner.
338 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
Seeming Premonition.
A third experience comes to my mind in this same connection —
another possible instance of telepathy but over a much greater dis-
tance. I was in my stateroom aboard a ship lying off Joppa and
was packing a grip to go up to Jerusalem for a few days, thence to
return to the ship. In the course of my packing I came to a case of
aural instruments, with head mirror, specula, etc., in my steamer
trunk, I was brushing this aside when the thought came to me
“ you are going to need this case in Jerusalem and you’d better put
it into your grip.” I did so at once and thought no more about it.
We went up by rail, and as the train pulled into the station at
Jerusalem a gentleman came working his way onward through the
crowd and evidently was inquiring for somebody. Soon he was re-
ferred to me and he came up, asking if I was Dr. Bellows, an
aurist, from Boston, who was cruising on the Alter. When I re-
plied that I was, he told me that a young lady at the Hotel Howard
was suffering frightfully from trouble with one of her ears and he
begged me to go at once to see her, even before going to my hotel.
Everything which I needed was right in my bag and I went with
the gentleman immediately from the train to the patient and took
charge of the case, to the great relief, both mental and physical, of
the sufferer. She turned out to be a young lady who had been a
passenger upon the same ship with me, who had left the ship two
or three weeks before to journey to Palestine, and who knew that
I was due in Jerusalem upon that date and train, but I had never
made her acquaintanc up to that day. The point is, of course, that
I should have been impelled to put those instruments into my bag
in readiness for the service required so urgently when I should ordi-
narily never think of taking them with me."
Conversazione.
339
CONVERSAZIONE.
In reply to queries by A. B. and others we are constrained to say
something about the Cushman case of spirit photography, printed
in our March issue.
The case presents the best evidence of genuineness furnished to
our knowledge by any single instance, and nearly as good as could
be expected of any instance taken alone, and limiting attention, as
■we are forced to do, to the completed picture itself and the proof
that the sitters could not have been known to the medium. We can-
not be certain that Dr. Cushman saw all the physical acts of Mrs.
Deane the medium, for the reason that if there was (this is said
only hypothetically) any sleight-of-hand work it might evade his
notice according to its intention. But though an amateur in this
regard, he is perfectly competent to guarantee the precautions which
preserved his anonymity. And there is surely a marked resemblance
between the " extra ” and his deceased daughter.
But one even so evidential a case does not, to our mind, amount
to proof.
1. To some persons who have inspected the extra and the life
photographs they do not seem, in spite of the marked resemblance,
to represent the same person. To them the extra appears to be the
face of a woman say thirty years old, while the daughter died at
fifteen two years ago. Moreover, the face of the extra appears
longer in proportion to its breadth, less plump of cheek, with a
hollow under the cheekbone which the life photographs do not
show, and with a nose which it seems doubtful could at any angle
prove to be a short one of pronounced retrousce type. These ap-
pearances may all be deceptive, but to some they seem to exist.
2. The claim is made that the relatives, a number of whom
have positively identified the purported (Spirit portrait, are the
persons best qualified to judge, and it is a natural claim for the
relatives to make, and at first appears a just one. But there is room
for doubting this. We need not bring in the numerous proved
cases of phosphorescent cloths, masks, etc., which have been identi-
340 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
fied as relatives. It is well known from experiments in psychologi-
cal laboratories that students may be caused by expectation to “ see ”
details which are actually not in the drawings presented. We have
often experimented in “ seeing ” faces in wallpaper, pictures of
crags and whatnot, and have been interested to discover how imagi-
nation will eke out missing lines and shape resemblances. It is also
demonstrated that emotion may project elements which are not
objectively present. Memories can supply and incorporate into
pictured faces what is lacking in actual verisimilitude.
Now the photographs are objective exhibits, and if they actually
resemble to the point of establishing identity strangers lack none
of the valid data for determining the facts. They may be actually
mistaken, but not because they are, per se, improper judges.
3. Living persons are sometimes mistaken for each other by
friends or familiar acquaintances of one of the persons, who cannot
be persuaded of their error until confronted by proofs of another
sort. Examples are given in the work “ Personal Identification ”
(By Prof. H. H. Wilder, Ph. D., and B. Wentworth, Gorham Press,
Boston, 1918).
Every President or other figure of national importance has at
least one " double ” whom the newspapers are fond of exploiting,
and the close resemblance between King George V of England and
the ex-Czar of Russia, Nicholas Romanoff, is surprising, even tak-
ing the close relationship into consideration.
To this close resemblance of certain individuals, a repetition of
types, as it were, are due the frequent awkward mistakes which are
within every man’s experience, and which cause much annoyance.
Typical of these is the following instance, extracted from a letter.
“ When Dr. R was married, a friend named T ' stood up ’
with him, and the intimacy continues to this day. Some few years
ago Dr. R was in the smoking car of a train, returning from
a football game. Facing him, on the other side of the car, and
about ten feet away, was T , and Dr. R smiled, nodded and
waved his hand at him. As the latter made no sign of recognition
Dr. R thought he was irritated at something, and went over to
him, took hold of his arm, and shook him familiarly, saying at the
same time, * What is the matter with you? Why don’t you speak?*
The man replied, ‘ What is the matter with you ?’ and then Dr.
R saw that the man was a stranger, yet had spoken to him and
even shaken him before he found it out.”
In much the same way one of the authors saw what he thought
Conversazione.
341
to be his college roommate, sitting obliquely across the aisle from
him in a train, but, as he had no reason for expecting to see him
within a thousand miles of the spot, he waited for some time before
speaking, meanwhile studying him critically. And in every detail
he stood the test. The profile, the half side face, with prominent
and characteristic cheek bones, were exact in every particular, al-
though the friend was of rather unusual appearance, and could not
be easily duplicated. Like the roommate, this man wore gold-bowed
glasses, the bows cutting into the flesh of the temples in the familiar
way; and the gestures and the posture, too, as he talked with two
ladies, were also perfectly natural.
In spite of all these coincidences, however, natural and artificial
as well, the man proved to be an entire stranger, as was later estab-
lished beyond all doubt, yet even after engaging the stranger in con-
versation, much of the deception still remained. (Pp. 28-29.)
**********
The second case, in many ways the most remarkable on record
of the physical duplication of two unrelated individuals, and rend-
ered still more incredible by the coincidence of the name, is yet
established beyond all possible doubt, and the photographs and other
data here presented came from the United States Penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kansas, where they were originally collected.
It appears that, in the year 1903, Will West, a new prisoner,
was committed to this institution. (Figure 5.) A few days after
his committal he was brought into the office of the record clerk to be
measured and photographed. The clerk thought that he remem-
bered the prisoner, and said, “ You have been here before.” “ No,
sir,” answered West; but, as the clerk was positive, he ran his
measuring instruments over him, and, from the Bertillon measure-
ments thus obtained, went to the file, and returned with the card the
measurements called for, properly filled out, accompanied with the
photograph and bearing the name “William West” (Figure 6.)
This card was shown to the prisoner, who grinned in amazement,
and said, " That’s my picture, but I don’t know where you got it,
for I know I have never been here before.” The record clerk
turned the card over, and read the particulars there given, includ-
ing the statements that this man was already a prisoner in the same
institution, having been committed to a life sentence on September
9, 1901, for the crime of murder. That is, the card found was that
of a different man, still within the walls of that very prison, yet
of the same name, the same facial expression, and practically the
same Bertillon measurements as the newcomer ! It then dawned on
all present that there were two Will Wests, and that here was a
case of the most remarkable resemblance of two unrelated persons
on record ; since neither photographs nor the Bertillon measurements
were of any avail in establishing the identity of these two men.
342 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
The clerk writes that, with their hats on, it is almost impossible to
tell these men apart. (Pp. 30-32.)
**********
On May 4, 1908, Nelson F. R was tried in the United States
and State Courts in Chicago for forgery and swindling. He was
positively identified by thirty men, including a handwriting expert,
and a patent attorney from Washington, who swore that on a cer-
tain day R had given him a forged check ; yet, upon the day in
question R was proven to have been in jail in Chicago. ( P. 39.)
If it is possible, as is the case, for persons so to resemble each
other in the flesh, it is possible for pictured faces, really unrelated,
to resemble each other as fully. From the standpoint of the indi-
vidual sitter it does seem much more remarkable that such a re-
semblance to what he is expressly seeking should occur by chance
than that out of his many acquaintances an unselected one should
chance to look almost identically like a stranger. But from the
standpoint of the medium for spirit photographs, if we hypotheti-
cally suppose her to be in the habit of foisting upon sitters fraudulent
extras, this is only one case out of hundreds, and it would not be
so very strange that in hundreds of trials one arbitrarily presented
extra should chance to resemble a relative of the sitter to such an
extent that every beholder would have to admit the fact.
If, however, under conditions as absolutely preserving the anony-
mity of the sitters as in the case of Dr. and Mrs. Cushman, Mrs.
Deane were able to produce twenty, ten or even five extras out of a
hundred trials as clear and as satisfying in their likeness to deceased
relatives as in the same case, conviction of their supernormal origin
could not well be avoided.
We have not been arguing that the Cushman photograph is not
a spirit production, but have simply set forth the reasons why it
by itself is not conclusively proved such.
v
Book Review.
343
BOOK REVIEW.
The Fringe of Immortality. By Mary E. Monteith. London: John
Murray, 1920. Pp. xiv+204. Price, six shillings net.
This is a candid and dispassionate account of the psychic work and
experience of a well educated lady who was careful to verify the data
and obtain independent testimony whenever possible. The phenomena
dealt with are mainly of the mental variety and are mostly confined to
alleged supernormal information obtained through automatic writing.
Although the documents and letters which confirm the supernormal
character of the messages are not published they are said to exist and
to have been examined by trustworthy witnesses. The book will be
found to be of interest to all those who desire to be acquainted with the
phenomena associated with private and strictly non-professional medi-
ums. To the psychical researcher the book is typical of many that might
be written containing similar material, the would-be authors of which
are too scared to publish on account of the ignorant hostility of an ill-
informed world. This hostility should be treated with the contempt it
deserves, and until the “ scientists ” choose to awake from their sleep and
begin to learn, books like the present cannot fail to arouse the attention
of those members of the public who prefer to keep an open mind and not
to be confined within the limits set up by pseudo-scientific academicians.
— E. J. D.
V_«OOtJ
344 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From the Unconscious to the Conscious, by Gustave Geley, Director
of the “ Institut Metapsychique International." Harper & Bros.,
New York. Pp. xxviii+327.
Spiritualism: Its Ideas and Ideals. A Selection of Leading Articles,
Sketches and Fables, by David Gow. Preface by the author, John
M. Watkins. London, 1920. Pp. 102. Two shillings.
Death and Its Mystery: Before Death — Proofs of the Existence of the
Soul, by Camille Flammarion. The Century Co., New York, 1921.
Pp. 322. $3.00.
The Life Beyond the Veil: Spirit Messages Received and Written down
by the Rev. G. Vale Owen, Book III. The Ministry of Heaven.
Preface by H. W. Engholm. George H. Doran Co., New York.
Pp. 250. $2.50 net.
The Life Beyond the Veil: Spirit Messages Received and Written down
by the Rev. G. Vale Owen, Book IV. The Battalions of Heaven.
Preface by H. W. Engholm. George H. Doran Co., New York.
Pp. 252. $2.50 net.
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
George H. Doran Co., New York, 1921. Pp. 299. $2.50.
Think on These Things, by Harriet L. Green. Star-News Publishing
Co., Pasadena, Cal., 1921. Pp. 62. $1.00.
The Master Key System, by Charles F. Haanel. St. Louis, Mo., 1916.
Pp- 35i-
Kabbalistic Numerology, by Laurel Miller. Metaphysical Publishing
Co., 2537 Broadway, New York, 1921. Pp. 70.
La Mart et Son Mystere. by Camille Flammarion. Earnest Flam-
marion, Editeur. 26, Rue Racine, Paris. Pp. 422.
La Tilipathie, by R. Warcollier. Preface de M. le Professeur Ch,
Richet. Librairie Felix Alcan, 108 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris,
1921. Pp. xix-f 363.
Across the Barrier, by H. A. Dallas, with an additional chapter by H.
B. Marriott Watson. Preface by the author. Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner & Co., Ltd., London, 1913. Pp. vii+212.
The Living Jesus: Uttered Through The Medium Frederick A. Wiggin.
(From Feb. 11 to June 1, 1921.) Preface by Mr. Wiggin. Forb-
word by Mr. Wiggin. Introduction by Ethel P. Wiggin and Edith
B Ordway. George Sully & Co., New York, 1921. Pp. xliii+199.
$2.00.
The Divining Rod: A History of Water Witching with a Bibliography,
by Arthur J. Ellis. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1917.
Pp- S3-
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOCIETY
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc.), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and dairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of M mediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering thereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
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ALL MEMBERSHIPS date from January 1st, though persons who
join in November or December will receive the Journals of those
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Contributions for or communications regarding the contents of the
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investigations should be directed to DR. WALTER F. PRINCE, Editor
and Principal Research Officer. Business and general correspondence
should be addressed to GERTRUDE O. TUBBY, Secretary.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices, 44 East 23rd St., New York, N. Y.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow-
ing investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-thera-
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corporation and is supported by contributions from its members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sura is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute is perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The form which such dedication
should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
draft
FORM OF REQUEST FOR TIIE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
Research, a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, the sum
of dollars,* in trust however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,t a branch of
said corporation, and for its purposes only."
• In c»« the bequest is tell mate, or other specific item* of property, they should be
sufficiently described for identification.
t In case the donor desire* the lands used for Psycho- therapeutics this should read:
" In trust, however, for the benefit of its branch for the investigation of Piycao
therapeutics and for such purposes only.''
trust.
.. apeutics
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. July, 1922 No. 7
CONTENTS
PAGE
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
Our Contributors . 345
GENERAL ARTICLE:
The Case of Mrs. West. By Walter F. Prince. . . . 347
INCIDENT:
Collective Hallucination or Mai-Observation. Reported by Prof.
Barrett Wendell 388
CORRESPONDENCE: .
Letters by Dr. A. S. Cushman 391
BOOK REVIEWS:
The Book of Mormon (A- J. Edmunds); The Foundations of
Spiritualism (W. Whatley Smith); So Saith the Spirit (A
King’s Council); Psychical Miscellanea: Being Papers on
Psychical Research, Telepathy, Hypnotism, Christian Science,
etc. (Arthur Hill).
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. IS Annually. Abroad £1. la. SO centa a copy.
Editorial, Research and Buiincea Office* at 44 Eaat tlrd St., New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company, York, Pa., to which aend change* of addre**.
Entered aa aecond-daa* matter, July 19, 1917, at the Pott Office at York, Penney leania, under
the Act of March 9, 1979. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of pottage provided for
in Section 1109, Act of October 9, 1917, authorucd April 97, 1999.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby . Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D., Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D, Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D, San Diego, CaL
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M., Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LLJD, F.A.A.S, New
York. N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S, LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LL.D, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt
George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Lawson Purdy.
1 ItUS DUII, in
Miles M. DaC
. eston b.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D.
Miles M. Dawson.
! a TJ ..11 V
Google
VOLUME XVI— No. 7
JULY, 1922
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Plot
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT 545
GENERAL ARTICLE:
The Cmse of Mr*. Weil, By Walter
P. Prince 347
Paoi
INCIDENT:
. . 588
CORRESPONDENCE: .
. . 581
BOOK REVIEWS :
. . 588
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof, Where, for food reason, the writer's true name
ka withheld. It is preserved on file, snd is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
Our Contributors.
Albert J. Edmunds, English by birth, has been in the United
States since 1885 and has been Cataloguer of the Historical So-
ciety of Pennsylvania since 1891. He is known as the author of
“ Buddhist and Christian Gospels,” which has been translated
into a number of languages, " Studies in the Christian Religion.”
etc. He is quoted in the Encyclopedia Americana, 1918, as hav-
ing played a leading part in the Buddhist-Christian question, and
has done a number of interesting pieces of work which we have
not space to cite here. A brother of Lucy Edmunds, Secretary to
Richard Hodgson for some years, he has been interested in
psychical research since 1882, has known many of its leading
scholars and made contributions to its evidence.
George Henry Johnson, C.E., Sc.D., is chiefly known as a
writer on statistics and finance, but the bibliography of his
magazine articles, published by his alma mater, Rutgers College,
includes topics ranging from astronomy and biography to witch-
craft and Zoroastrianism. He has been a professor of mathe-
matics and engineering and has the degree of M.S. from Cornell
346 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
University and Sc.D. from Harvard University. His avocation,
and partly his recreation, is supernormal psychology. He is of
the opinion that this offers at the present time the richest field
for exploration and discovery. He is making a special study of
automatic writing and any data on that subject will be appreciated
by him.
Barrett Wendell, lately deceased, was well known as pro-
fessor of English at Harvard University, author of many books
dealing with his subject, lecturer at the Sorbonne and other
French universities, etc.
>0*1
The Case of Mrs. West.
34 7
THE CASE OF MRS. WEST.
(Last Part.)
By Walter F. Prince.
Later Impressions About W. F. Prince.*
I first met Mrs. West on September 4th, 1919. She never
after this date had impressions regarding me as noteworthy as
those which have been related. About June 1, 1920, she became
a typist in my office, and remained about one year. She made
few deliverances about me or my affairs, but, up to the time
shortly before her departure when she was not on the best of
terms with me, those which I find on record have a degree of
impressiveness.
• When Mrs. West left the employ of the A. S. P. R. she claimed and was
given a quantity of records of another character than those rehearsed in this
report These were mostly automatic scripts written for the greater part in
the office, the most interesting feature of which was that they contained scraps
of foreign languages, French, German, Latin and Spanish. The lady pro-
tested that she had never studied any of these and never associated with
persons speaking any of them more than people commonly casually meet
foreigners and hear them utter a few sentences of unintelligible stuff. Had
the sentences and phrases been of a stock character (See Journal for March,
1922, page 152) they might have been consciously or unconsciously acquired.
But they fitted in with the English which furnished the matrix, the consecutive
sentences made consecutive sense, and the sense fitted circumstances in the
office or conversations which had just taken place. The foreign sentences,
sometimes correct, sometimes faulty, were evidently composed on the spur of
the moment. Words were often spelled phonetically, and so sometimes bore
little visual resemblance to the originals, so that the glossographia was indi-
cated to be of auditory reception. What was the nature of that auditory
reception, was it possible that the lady had heard enough talking in French,
German, Latin and Spanish so that she unconsciously acquired ability to con-
struct phrases and even sentences in those languages suggested by circum-
stances of the moment? If so, it was a phenomenon of much psychological
interest, and it is a pity that it could not have been studied at greater length,
and the results conserved. Perhaps as much as four average printed pages of
foreign material was produced altogether, in my presence. Of course Mrs.
West thought she got it from spirits, and she appeared amazed and con-
348 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
The Name Ross.
On January 1, 1920, she made a psychometric report of a
postal card written by a man but which I had intimated was
written by a woman, with the result that she was presumably led
astray. On informing her what was the probable reason of her
stating that a woman wrote the card she sent me a letter on the
3rd saying that she had been warned before she met me that I
would try to fool her.
Into my hand one night in vision, was placed a card bearing
the name Ross. I noted it earnestly and the card disappeared. Sud-
denly it came again into my hand and I said to an unseen presence,
“ Yes, I see, the name is Ross.”
Again the card disappeared only to reappear quickly a third time.
I grew impatient and said, “ 1 understand. The name is Ross.
I will not forget."
The card disappeared and into its place came a piece of blue silk.
The hand that held it kept it before my eyes. I said, “ It is blue
silk.” And a voice replied, “ It is black.”
“ No,” I said, “ it is blue. I can see it plainly.” And the voice
replied, “ Ross says it is black.”
I became indignant and answered emphatically, “ But I say it is
blue.”
founded at its first appearances. Sometimes the remarks were very frank at
her own expense, and she was disposed to dispute the justice of some
criticisms.
After her departure and disappearance, as into thin air, certain other
papers, pertinent to this report, were missed, and they may have become
mixed with the materials just described, which she claimed as her own prop-
erty. Thus, several deliverances of hers worthy of insertion, and belonging
to the period before she met me, are lost. One dealt with a spirit which she
said she saw several times in a vision, and whom she described as a tall young
woman of blonde complexion, whom I had offended in some way long ago
and who bore a grudge against me still. On a careful review of my career
I could remember but one lady who had cause to entertain lasting ill-will
toward me, and who certainly did. 1 was a thoughtless boy of eighteen and
the occasion did not seem serious to me at the time, but it was so considered
by her, and in the light of mature reflection I perceive that she had some
justification. Therefore we have the coincidence that the only lady to whom
I had carelessly given lasting offense corresponded with the description in the
only three particulars given.
The Case of Mrs. West. 349
The vision faded and my deduction is this: Ross will try to
fool me.
Do you recall that I asked you if you knew this name and if
it was connected with you in any way ?
She had indeed asked the question and I had not at the time
given it enough attention to trace any connection. But on receipt
of this parable it flashed into recollection that I used many years
ago to append to my rhyming attempts the pseudonym Ross F.
Cripen. Here was a coincidence and a peculiarly appropriate one
for the purpose of the parable as stated. The name “ Ross ” was
connected with me, and connected with me as an attempt to con-
ceal the true authorship of the rhymes, just as I had concealed the
fact that a man wrote the postal card by hinting that it was writ-
ten by a woman. If anything was actually printed under that
pseudonym it was so obscure and so long ago that it would be
ludicrous to suppose that Mrs. West knew anything about it.
The Fire, Lamp and Burned Hands.
One curious incident is ruined by the absence of the letter
written in April, 1920, by Mrs. West, announcing a vision of a
fire started by a lamp with a yellow shade, and of my hands being
burned. This letter may have been mixed with the papers which
Mrs. West claimed on her leaving the office. There was nothing
in the vision indicating whether the event was past or future.
The following notes which I made at the time show that I
thought the coincidences noteworthy, and partly indicate what
they were:
April 15, 1920.
Some time in 1915, while I was living in San Bernardino, Cali-
fornia, in a house which I had purchased on the outskirts of the
city, the following incident took place.
Opening out from the kitchen, was a little room formed by the
addition of a lean-to, shed like structure of which the ceiling was
only about six feet high. The ceiling was composed of boards only
about a quarter of an inch in thickness, which had been there for a
long time, and were consequently exceedingly dry and inflammable.
Sometimes, when it rained there was a little leakage from the ceiling,
350 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
and some newspapers had been stuffed in the space between the
ceiling and the boards of the roof. There stood in this small apart-
ment a tall bureau or " highboy.” One evening I entered the room
to get something out of a drawer, and thoughtlessly placed a lamp
upon the top of the highboy. I stepped out of the room and
entered a few minutes later to find the ceiling blazing directly over
the lamp. Already a hole of say six inches in diameter had been
burned through, it was blazing around the edges and rapidly eating
into the newspapers in the cavity. A few minutes delay would have
made it impossible to save the house. I dashed into the flames with
my bare hands and tore down the blazing wood, pulled out the
newspapers, stamped the fire out and completed the work by dashing
water all about. Both hands were badly burned, one worse than the
other, but I cannot remember which. I mention this because the
lady afterwards stated orally that the left hand according to her im-
pression, zoas burned worse than the other. I was in great pain,
and spent a large part of the night walking the floor, and treating
the burns. It was many days before the effects ceased to be visible.
This is the only accident in connection with fire of any account
whatever which I remember to have ever participated in from mv
earliest childhood. I have no recollection of the color of the lamp-
shade, as such things do not remain in my memory. But this morn-
ing, before telling Mrs. Prince anything of the psychic’s vision I
asked her if, in San Bernardino, we possessed a yellow lampshade,
and she replied that we did, and that it belonged to a nickel lamp.
“ What,” I enquired, “ do you mean the large nickel lamp in the
parlor? ” Her reply was “ No, I mean the tall lamp that you nearly
burned the house up with.” It was not until after this that I told
her the story of the vision.
[One or two days after the accident just related occurred, a lady,
a Mrs. Vanderbilt, whom I always regarded as truthful, called me
up by telephone and enquired with every appearance of eagerness
and anxiety, whether I had had an accident. I asked her to what
she referred, and she stated that she had had a vision of the upper
part of my body lit up by a bright illumination and of my hands
raised above my head as though I were pulling something down.
My countenance expressed terror or alarm, and the vision was so
exceedingly vivid that she feared there might be something to it, and
that some accident had befallen me. She had just returned from
The Case of Mrs. West.
351
the mountains where she had had the vision. She solemnly de-
clared that no one had told her of the accident, and considering all
the circumstances it seemed to me at the time very unlikely that
any one had done so. By " circumstances,” I refer to the facts that
very little had been said about it to any one, and that she had cer-
tainly just returned from the mountains, where no one could have
known about it, that the circle of her acquaintance was not such that
I should have expected it to have been reported to her through them,
and particularly through my knowledge of the lady's veracity, and
to the whole appearance of the way that she told the story and of
her mingled delight and awe in finding that her vision corresponded
with something that really had occurred.]
April 15, 1920.
Referring again to the just narrated incident, I would add most
positively, and without the slightest doubt or misgiving, that no
word regarding the accident with the lamp ever was told Mrs.
West before she wrote the narrative of her vision.
April 15, 1920.
Later. Mrs. Prince has become doubtful as to whether the yel-
low shade was in use at that period and showed me another shade
which she thinks was the one (but whether on the lamp on the
evening of the accident we do not know). It is red outside and
yellow inside. Without stating this previously I asked Mrs. West
whether the lamp was low or high as she saw it. She replied that
she looked up at it which might bring the yellow into view, but she
asserted that it was the outside which she saw. W. F. P.
Visit to Mrs. Chenoweth and a Missed Boat.
Mrs. West would sometimes have an impression about some-
thing or other while at her work in the office, and I asked her,
instead of relating it orally, to write it down and hand it to me.
On October 14th, 1920, it was known to her that I proposed to
go to Boston that night to experiment with Mrs. Chenoweth. In
the early part of the afternoon she handed me the following
memorandum. The inserted figures correspond to notes which
I shall make.
352 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
14th October, 1920.
Mrs. Chenoweth will not be feeling quite up to par (1). I see
her sitting with her right leg stretched out before her (2).
The room is large (3) and in the back of the house (4). The
sun is pouring in the windows (5).
I see a woman sitting there who is quite large (6). She has
brown hair (7) and eyes (8). Her hands are soft (9) and white
(10) and she wears a ring which she is very fond of and turns
carressingly round her finger (11). I see a light yellow dress with
figures in it which belongs in her wardrobe (12). [While I was
getting the vision of Mrs. Chenoweth Mr. Burke came in and handed
me a package and talked for a while. I tried to recall the vision but
it would not return. I therefore have written my impression of her
face, hair and eyes. I feel that you are going by train (13) and
there will be quite a delay which will cause people to be fidgetty ( 14).
But don’t be alarmed. Mrs. C. will give you a personal message,
that will comfort and sustain you (15).
I wrote on the slip, “ No, I am going by boat,” and must have
read very inattentively, being usually much engrossed with work,
for I added, “ Who the deuce is Mrs. C. ? ” and passed the paper
back. She added :
You will board a train upon which there will be a delay. I don't
know Mrs. C. I believe it is Mrs. Chenoweth.
I see a hurried trip to Tremont St. (16).
NOTES ON MRS. WEST’S PREDICTIONS OF OCT. 14. 1920.
1. I found from Mrs. Chenoweth’s housekeeper that she has been ill, was
now better, but not entirely well. So I suppose she was not “ feeling quite
up to par."
2. This was not the case when I saw her. 1 heard that she had had
trouble (lameness?) with a leg, but did not learn which one it was.
3. The room was not large.
4. Not in the back but the front.
5. The sun was shining brightly in the windows of the house, and in the
window of the room.
6. Yes, Mrs. C. is rather large— is pretty fleshy.
7. Her hair is very gray now, but shows that it was dark brown.
8. The housekeeper says her eyes are brown.
The Case of Mrs. West.
353
9. Correct.
10. The housekeeper says yes to this, though the hands did not look par-
ticularly white to me, but this may have been because of the state of light
and shade.
11. The housekeeper said that Mrs. C. wears just one ring, and that she
bad often seen her do just this one thing.
12. I was struck first by the fact that the wrapper which Mrs. C. was
wearing was a very light yellow, cream or straw color. But it had no figures
in it.
13. Mrs. W. laid the small slip down before me as a record. At that time
1 had decided to go by boat, and wrote what appears in my writing. It will
be noted that Mrs. W. repeated the assertion that 1 was going by train,
firmly. I looked up the times of the boats, as I thought, carefully. I resolved
in my mind to defeat the prediction, and when I reached the wharf carrying
several blocks a heavy bag I had no idea whatever that I would not be able
to do it. But every boat was gone. It appears that from morning I had
confused standard time with daylight saving time.
14. In both places referring to the delay, it looks as though it meant a
delay of the train itself. The fact is that the train I took was prompt enough,
but I took a train considerably later than my intended time of starting,
namely at 10 P. M. There would have been a considerable delay the best I
could do, but I never like to reach a city in the “ wee sma ” hours, and
always avoid it if possible. I am certain that what was written had no effect
upon my time of starting and, besides, I interpreted the meaning to be that the
train itself would be delayed, as I now think the obvious meaning. I put this
down, only because there was a certain kind of delay, which might perhaps
be the warped intention of saying. No one was made fidgetty but me.
15. I went to Mrs. C. to try a particular experiment, which failed. I had
no idea of getting a personal message, and never once thought of what Mrs.
West had predicted until my return. But the messages actually received were
personal, being from my mother (apparently), and also about a grandmother
and other relatives. Perhaps it could be said that I was ” comforted,” in a
provisional sort of way, by the purported messages, but, as I am cold-blooded
in such matters, it would not have occurred to me to use the term.
16. My subway car from the station took me to Tremont Street, head
of Boylston. I did not know where it would leave me. supposing some-
where on Boylston Street I glanced across the street and saw a restau-
rant something on the order of cafeteria, which I prefer. I next took subway
car for Leamington Road, from station on Boylston Street, near the library,
but the return one again, against my expectation, deposited me at Tremont
Street and Boylston. It was just lunch hour and the place suited me, so I
went in. The same thing took place next day. I started from one station but
got off when I saw “Boylston Street," and again I got lunch at the place on
Tremont Street. I am sure 1 should have done the same had not Mrs. W.
written what she did. The trips were “ hurried ” in the sense that they were
made in swift trains and also in that I had engagements afterward and
lunched in haste.
354 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
The Dental Operation.
9th November, 1920, 12.05 P. M.
I arrived in the office about 9 A. M. this morning. I felt greatly
disturbed and upon opening the window I knocked over Dr. Prince’s
pitcher, and broke it. A queer crack also was made which resembled
the figure 5.
At eleven o’clock I grew nervous and apprehensive. At 12.05
o’clock I saw Dr. Prince white and unconscious in a chair. I felt
a crunching feeling in my lower jaw on the left side. I had a
queer feeling in my heart as though it wasn’t acting just right.
At 12.20 1 felt nauseated. At 12.40 I wanted to laugh. I then
felt sleepy and as though I wanted to laugh and cry.
How that 5 keeps coming to mind. I find myself putting my
tongue in five places on my lower jaw. O it’s sore!
A. A. West.
1.20 P. M. Is all right now. Brain clear and neck not quite so
stiff. Is happy. Will be back at office to-morrow.
A. A. W.
Comments.
Nov. 10, 1920.
I found this on my return to the office this morning. I was ab-
sent all day yesterday and went to a dentist’s to have teeth extracted
as Mrs. W. knew. But she knew nothing further except that I
would take gas.
Was in the dentist’s chair from about 9.10 to about 9.30 (not
exact). The dentist extracted one tooth and two roots, and after
I recovered from the gas told me that next time he would extract
the remaining two roots, making five.
At the time Mrs. W. first got the impression of five the dentist
may have been making his examination, finding that there must be
five extractions. The tooth extracted was on the left side, one of
the roots in center and other on right.
All the extractions were and are to be from the lower jaw. I
did not tell Mrs. W. anything about which jaw was involved, tho
from the scraggy look of my lower teeth it might be possible to sur-
mise this. Nor did I myself know there were to be five extractions.
M
The Case of Mrs. West. 35S
I had a very little nausea, but it was late in the afternoon. The
larger operation and what aching there was in my mouth were
mostly on the left side. I didn’t notice stiffness in the neck but I
do this morning. There has come a “crick” and soreness on left
side of back of it.
At 11 I was walking the street thinking intently of my psycho-
logical reactions in anaesthesia, trying hard to recollect. At 12.05
I was on a trolley car.
Everything went on well in the operation so far as I know,
though I do not understand why all five were not removed at the
same time. I asked if I was perfectly still when under gas and
was told I was. I was a little sleepy for some hours but became
very much so toward evening and this morning. There is no great
soreness in the jaw. But the most insistent particular was right in
the way above stated — about the five.
I just asked Mrs. W. (without hint) when she had the five im-
pressions. “ A little after nine.” “ Did I tell you when the opera-
tion would be?” “I believe you said it would all be over at 12
o’clock, but you would have to take the rest of the day off.” I can
imagine 5 in the break also. I did count the places, done and to be
done, with my tongue between 9.40 and 10 and perhaps later.
W. F. P.
It is evident that there was no correspondence in the time
factor, unless in regard to the figure 5.
There were correspondences, aside from the time factor, in
the number 5, lower jaw and left side (perhaps inferrible from
sight of a bad tooth on the left side of the lower jaw), putting
tongue in the five places (not unlikely), nausea (also not un-
likely), and stiff neck. I am always a little “nervous and ap-
prehensive ” before a dental operation, as I suppose most people
are. Those in regard to unconsciousness and sleepiness could
not be significant, though true.
On the other hand there was little soreness in the jaw, and I
have no reason to suppose that my heart did not act right.
The idea that the shape of the break in the pitcher was sig-
nificant is absurd, but the mental impression may have suggested
that the break resembled a 5.
Saying that each of several particulars was a likely one is not
356 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the same as saying that all taken together were likely, at least in
the same degree.
Shortly after entering the Society office Mrs. West had a
vision professing to give the description of Mrs. Prince, and
nearly correct even to a marked peculiarity of the teeth. Cir-
cumstances precluded her from having seen Mrs. Prince, but
since she could have heard her description, this incident is
ruled out.
I have now related all the incidents in my records relating to
my affairs and professing to be evidential (with the exception of
two improbable prophecies), up to the time that it became neces-
sary to replace her in the office with a person who not only
was an efficient typist like herself, but also was a mistress of
shorthand.
The incidents vary from very extraordinary ones to those
which are of a low order of evidentiality. That is, in some
cases she produced close correspondences with external facts
against all probability, and in certain others she achieved partial
correspondences still against probability but in a very much lower
degree. Even the latter class, when a number of incidents are
taken together, differs widely from the results of random guess-
ing, or merely subliminal fancies, as tested by many actual in-
stances. There is another lady who thought that her impressions
concerned me and sent them in for months. Of course some
ordinary details sometimes corresponded, but I have wondered
that out of hundreds of bullets so few find the target at all. An-
other person sent in six large sheets of closely written “ clair-
voyant " impressions regarding my doings during a certain
period, and it was surprising that even by chance more particulars
did not prove correct. Most were absurdly wide of the mark. I
had another lady of no known “ psychic ” powers, but who knew
vastly more about me, my habits and characteristics than Mrs.
West could have possibly known at the period of her most re-
markable utterances before she met me, make a series of
guesses regarding my doings during a period of absence, and
again comes that contrast which is one of the modes of gauging
the value of incidents like those I have been relating.
But, even as we have seen that the lady’s visions, dreams and
other impressions relating to national and international affairs
The Case of Mrs. West.
357
were fallacious, due doubtless to the emotions aroused by reading
about battles, strikes, bomb-throwing, etc., the few impressions
about me which she imparted when her departure was imminent
and she, a very temperamental person, was much out of humor
with me, were wild as nightmares. As I was about to take a boat
she declared that I would become ill on the wharf and be taken to
a hospital, and after I had actually departed safely on the boat
told others that she had seen a vision of me with both hands cut
off! If some persons, the so-called psychics, possess a machine
which is capable of producing supernormal material, it seems clear
from a multitude of cases that the machine may get out of order
and that a perturbed state of emotionality gets it out of order.
Incidents Affecting Others.
The Two “ Horses
On January 2, 1920, Mrs. West reported her impressions
from a non-committal postal card, signed with initials only,* the
same submitted as my first psychometrical experiment with her.
And I did a thing which was not strictly legitimate in such an
experiment ; I intimated that the card was written by a woman,
which was not the case. Sometimes, when this is done, the
* Non-committal in regard to anything which the psychic afterwards said.
This is the wording of the card :
“ , , Dec. 29th, 1919.
“ Dear Walter: What is the ail of you? Have not heard from you since
John was bom. Am still teaching the young idea how to shoot — or just now
we have declared an armistice. Into plays heels over head. How are the
spooks? Did you get any results from that bit of mother’s work? I have
often wondered. Tom preached here not long ago. Guess he was
before your time at K. H. Season's wishes. [Initials.] ’’
The reader will note that no relation of information or inference between
the contents of the card and the psychometric result exists. A fake medium
could have said : “ I see a woman who wishes to send a message to her son.
She wants him to know that she often watches over him in the school room.
Does he remember how fond she was of needlework? Isn’t he fond of
Shakespeare? His mother speaks about a little boy in his family — Johnny.
(This would be a blunder.) He isn’t fully convinced of the glorious truth
of spirits, but she is trying to manifest to him."
What was actually reported by the medium in the case was remote from
anything written on the card.
358 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
psychic reacts against the intimation, but we have no right to
expect that this shall be the case on any theory. If supernormal
impressions are received it is certainly a delicate process and i f we
project an erroneous impression we must not demand that it shall
be successfully overlaid and obliterated.
As I took the enclosed card in hand, the picture of a woman in
middle life came before me. She is of average height and well
formed. Has brown hair. She wore when I looked at her this
morning, a gray dress with tiny black figures in it. I think it is a
house dress as the sleeves were (there is a controversy going on
here). One voice says, “of elbow length,” and another voice says.
" rolled to the elbows.” It is my impression that the lady altered the
sleeves after the dress was bought.
The writer of the card is methodical and forceful. Has many
friends who seek her advice.
It is very strange, but as I think of her I see two horses. One
is a race horse, quick, keen, alert and nervous. A good breaker at
the barrier and good for six furlongs.
The other horse is a dray horse, faithful, gentle, strong. Can
stand any going and good for a long distance.
The pacer is a tall, slender, dark man. The dray horse is the
lady who penned the card.
Very truly,
Annie A. West.
Jan. 2. 1920.
As stated, the writer of the card was a man, but as indicated, I
had wilfully misled the psychometrist, and her error in supposing
that of the two figures in her mental vision the woman was the
writer, should have been expected.
The writer of the postal card commented thus on his own
description :
The physical description of my (supposed) self would have
been surprisingly accurate when younger. It is not so accurate now.
I am noticeably shorter than in youth though still about 5-10. My
hair was also quite dark ; now I have but little and have turned quite
gray in the last two or three years, so the idea of " darkness ” has
The Case of Mrs. West.
359
largely " evaporated.” What beard I had was black once, now it is
snow white. My mustache was always inclined to be sandy and the
effect now is yellowish white. My eyes once so dark a gray that
many people would have called them black when away from me long
since turned to a very light greenish-blue. Again a man approach-
ing two hundred pounds * could scarcely be called very slender.
As for the other psychical and mental characteristics, they are
no doubt fairly accurate. As to the implied comparison to a racer it
is certainly pat. I was always good for a flying start and a stiff pace
for the first mile — and was all in then — not a stayer. Thirty years
ago the description would have been surprisingly accurate.
In regard to the expression, “ A good breaker at the barrier ” I
am not sport enough to fully understand its signification. I have
frequently vaulted some pretty high hurdles in a pinch ; if a “ break ”
in pace at an obstacle, it is not true — I hope. I “ flush out ” but not
because of obstacles, simply from lack of sticktoitiveness.”
My friend could seem to entertain no theory except that the
description should correspond to his appearance at that date. But
there is another and even more plausible one. and that is that it
should correspond with my mental picture of him, being in fact
of a telepathic order. Or even that it was made to correspond
with my mental picture in order to be recognizable by me. I had
seen him last about ten years earlier. He certainly was “ dark,”
and that is all that is said of his complexion. His skin is swarthy,
his hair was dark with grey intermixed, he wore no beard, so only
his moustache conflicted with the term. When I knew him many
years earlier he was distinctly slender, probably was slenderer at
my last meeting than at the date of his comments, and at any rate
he was and continues slender in my mental photograph of him.
All the other particulars are admitted by him to be “ surprisingly
accurate," and that is my emphatic judgment.
Take just six adjectives applied to the man, “quick, keen,
nervous, tall, slender, dark.” On the basis of one chance out of
two in each case (that is, he might be tall or short, slender or
stout, dark or light, nervous or phlegmatic, keen or stupid, quick
or slow), and there was one chance of getting all these right in
He afterwards wrote that his weight was 180 pounds, clothed, in 1920.
360 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
64 guesses. Those are precisely the six adjectives which I would
employ if I wanted to describe my friend as I remembered him
in just six words. I knew that he was a “ good breaker at the
barrier,’' but I did not know about his being best for “ six fur-
longs,” yet this particular also is vindicated by the man himself
in the very letter wherein he doubts the application to himself
because his contemporaneous description had altered. So for
that one particular we must resort to the explanation of chance
or abandon the telepathic explanation of the whole incident.
For some inscrutable reason my friend commented little on
what I took to be a characterization of his wife. Perhaps the
reason was that he was possessed with the idea that the descrip-
tions should apply, if at all, to the particulars as they were at that
date. He said that the lady was then well past middle life. His
inquiries seem to have been limited to the question whether she
then had a gray dress.
But the description corresponded notably with my mental
picture of the lady formed at the only time I had ever seen her.
She was then in “ middle life ” (about 40) , of “ average height ”
(not commented on and not contradicted by my friend), “ well-
formed,” as I recollected her, and had brown hair (admitted, but
stated that it had been turning gray). She had no gray dress at
the time, but may have had ten years earlier (I could not get the
fact ascertained). I would have thought from what I saw that
the mental description tallied throughout, and no denial was
forthcoming. I would not have used the term “ dray-horse,” but
it should be interpreted by the three following adjectives. I do
not profess to be certain of all these characteristics, but they dis-
tinctly conform to the impressions I had derived in the home, and
that may be the hinge of the matter.
Psychonietrical Test from Another Friend’s Writing.
This case is given out of order because it classifies with the
last one in that I am in a position to judge how far it is evidential
from personal knowledge of the man whose writing was used.
First an envelope was put into the lady’s hands. She may have
noticed that the envelope had been used twice, which might sug-
gest an economical tendency. At the same time, we must admit
The Case of Mrs. West.
361
that the man might have been temporarily out of envelopes. The
date of the test was June 17, 1920.
He is economical, well poised in that he has command of himself
but not as harmonious as he should be, disgruntled. He doesn’t care
for his own personal feelings as he should. Indifferent to opinions
of his habits and really should regard other's opinions to advance
more. Thus far from holding unopened envelope.
[I opened letter and let her hold it in her hands. She did not
look at it at all.]
He wants you to decide something for him. He is paying heed
more to his life — to the material than he is to the future. I see
money, money, money all around. There is but a narrow stream
between him and the other side. It will not be long before he crosses.
I feel as if there was something more but I can’t get it.
The writer of the letter is known to me as very economical,
but see above. It is hard to tell just what is meant by “ well-
poised in that he has command over himself." In one sense this
is true, in another probably not. Emphatically he is " not as
harmonious as he should be,” and he is “ disgruntled ” to an un-
usual degree. He is very sensitive and yet does things which he
knows will cause opposition and even ridicule ; if this is what is
implied by “ he doesn't care for his own personal feelings as he
should ” it is a very apt sentence. He is, I should judge, “ in-
different to opinions of his personal habits ” in the sense that he
persists in them, though not indifferent in the sense of not feeling
criticism. He “ really should regard other’s opinions to advance
more ” is emphatically true, and has been told me by my friend
himself again and again. He so disregarded narrow local bigotry
as to seriously interfere with his career. “ He wants you to de-
cide something for him.” He was accustomed to confide his
troubles to me and to ask me questions. I often advised him,
but am not certain whether or not he accepted anything I said as
decisive. “ He is paying more heed to this life — to the material
than he is to the future ” is undoubtedly correct. So far as I
can see he pays attention to this world only, and the spiritistic
question, while it interests him, does not seem to except academ-
ically. He is somewhat embittered on the subject of religion.
362 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ I see money, money, money all around.” If this means that he
is rich it is not correct, but if it means that money is constantly
in the thoughts of my friend it is correct. He hardly ever writes
me a letter which does not deal in part with monetary troubles
and aspirations. His health is affected in several ways, but the
stream was at least two years wide, for he is living yet. I have
tried to fit the description to other men, and do not think that it
would fit one in twenty as well as it does its actual subject.
Other Psychometrical Tests.
These were made while Mrs. West was still in Government
service for fellow employees. They are vouched for by Mrs.
West and their subjects, and while I suspect that some divergent
details may have been inadvertently forgotten, my own tests give
no grounds for disputing that they are reported with substantial
correctness. It may be added that while Mrs. West was some-
times literal in her interpretations, she was never known by me
to be guilty of intentional misstatement or exaggeration of the
actual facts of her experiences. The answers to the questions
following are in the same handwritings as the several signatures*
1.
April 19, 1920.
Dear Doctor Prince:
I am enclosing you statements from two persons employed at
the Base who asked me to tell their " fortunes.”
I assured them that I do not tell “ fortunes ” but get impressions
by handling their handwriting.
Mr. James [pseudonym], civil service clerk in the accounting
department wrote his name and address on a slip of paper and
handed it to me.
Several days later I had the vision described in the statement
enclosed.
* 1 had told Mrs. West that she ought to get statements from the persons
for whom she psychometrized. But she found, as others have found, the
difficulty of getting people to keep their promises of this character, and finally
adopted the expedient of writing as soon as possible after a test her recol-
lection of it, in the form of interrogations, and submitting the document to
the witness.
The Case of Mrs. West.
363
Mrs. Delancey [pseudonym] is also a Civil Service clerk in the
accounting department. Instead of giving me her specimen of writ-
ing she placed a ring on my finger which she had worn for some
time and from which I received my impressions concerning her.
Her testimony I also enclose.
Mr. James and Mrs. Delancey are of good character — truthful
and reliable.
I have assured them that their names will not be made public.
Very truly yours,
Annie A. West.
19 April, 1920.
Mr. James, I see standing near you a woman in spirit form with
brown hair and blue eyes.
This woman died when she was eighteen years of age with an
affection of the lungs.
You are planning a change in your business and she says, “ Wait
until Fall."
Do you recognize this woman ?
Ans. Yes. My father’s sister.
How old was she when she died ?
Ans. About the age mentioned above.
What was the cause of death ?
Ans. Consumption of the lungs.
Are you contemplating a change in your business ?
Ans. Yes. Soon.
Morris W. James.
2.
19 April, 1920.
Mrs. Delancey:
I see standing near you a woman with gray hair and blue eyes.
She looks as if she had stepped out of a frame of long ago. She
wore hoop skirts and parted her hair in the middle.
She was very domesticated. An excellent housekeeper and a
good friend. She thought a great deal of you and is watching over
you now.
She thinks that you worry too much. And says when you are
364 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
perplexed about a difficulty which is to arise to “ consult Fred and
he will straighten it all out.”
Fred is tall, dark and slender, in middle life and influential.
Do you recognize the old lady?
Ans. Yes.
Are the details concerning her correct ?
Ans. Yes.
Are you inclined to worry ?
Ans. Yes.
Do you know any man named Fred who answers the descrip-
tion given?
Ans. Cannot answer accurately, as I have never seen the man ;
but one with that name has written to me in a business way.
Louise Delancey.
3.
Miss Bangs [pseudonym] :
I see standing near you a woman in spirit form. She has blue
eyes and light brown hair. She is about thirty years of age. She
died of a fever. Her name is Nellie.
Do you place this woman ?
Ans. Yes.
What was the cause of death ?
Ans. Pneumonia.
What was her name?
Ans. N K .
Does the description fit her perfectly ?
Ans. Yes.
Nellie is trying to comfort you. She thinks you are in great
distress and wishes to assure you that your trouble will be soon
removed.
Are you particularly worried ?
Ans. Yes.
There is an old man connected with you who is ill. He has a
very intellectual face. He has gray hair and blue eyes and is very
thin. There seems to be doubt about his ailment. He places his
hand on his stomach and then across his back.
Do you recognize this man ?
Ans. Yes.
The Case of Mrs. West.
365
What relation does he bear to you ?
Ans. 1st cousin.
What is his business ?
Ans. Doctor — M. D.
Have I described him perfectly?
Ans. Yes.
This man lives quite a distance from you. Is this so ?
Ans. Yes.
There is a woman who visits him who has gray hair and blue
eyes. She is quite stout.
Do you recognize this woman ?
Ans. Yes.
This man has a cancer of the stomach and will soon die. Your
mother will benefit by his death.
If this latter prophesy proves true will you notify me?
Ans. Yes.
Does this statement contain all that I told you ?
Ans. Yes.
Is it correct in every detail ?
Ans. Yes.
5. May. 1920.
[Signed] H H Bangs.
Statement containing incident of Miss Margaret Ohl [pseudonym],
Civil Service Clerk.
4.
11 May, 1920.
Miss Ohl, you have sent me an envelope bearing an address re-
questing that I give you all the information I can regarding the
writer.
The person who directed the envelope is a man with brown hair
and brown eyes, rather full, red lips and firm white teeth. He is
dressed in khaki. He removes his uniform and puts on civilian at-
tire. His whole heart is centered upon getting into business. Tell
him to preserve his uniform as he will be obliged to wear it again.
He will lead a company in making a charge.
Do you know this man ?
Ans. Yes.
366 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Has he worn khaki?
Ans. Yes.
Is he now wearing civilian clothes?
Ans. Yes.
Is he interested in business ?
Ans. Yes.
Does this statement contain any information which I have not
imparted ?
Is it true in every detail ?
Ans. Yes.
Will you notify me when the future I predict is fulfilled?
Ans. Yes.
[Signed] Margaret Ohl.
11 May, 1920.
It will be noted that the query, " Does this statement contain
any information which I have not imparted?” is not answered.
If the omission was inadvertent it is not significant, if advertent
it is. And it is right here that the doubts which the experienced
investigator feels in regard to the records of the laymen would
center. Were there particulars unintentionally incorporated from
the original replies of the subjects? But at least the query inti-
mates the confidence of Mrs. West that this was not the case, and
surely the parties would not have answered the questions and
added their signatures if they had not agreed with Mrs. West
that she achieved striking results. Miss Ohl did not give noti-
fication of the fulfilment of the prediction during the year which
followed, but even if it was fulfilled the chances of her doing so
were not great, as experience teaches. Once, after a lecture, a
number of clergymen crowded around me to tell incidents occur-
ring to themselves or in their families and about half a dozen
promised to write out and send them in. Not one did so.
5.
20th May, 1920.
Dear Dr. Prince:
1 wish to relate an incident concerning one of the girls at the
Base, Miss Sartouris [pseudonym], by name.
Shortly after the experience I had with Miss Bangs and “ Nellie.”
The Case of Mrs. tVest.
367
Miss S. came to me and requested that I tell her something of a
psychic nature about herself.
I assured her if I had a vision or received a message I would
relate it to her. I waited day after day but I could not even imagine
anything about her.
She came frequently to my desk and asked if the message had
come.
I knew absolutely nothing about the girl with the exception that
she was employed in the bookkeeping department. I had about
given her case up, when two days before leaving the Base, she passed
my desk. As she did so, I raised my eyes and looked in her direc-
tion. To my surprise I was looking at a place near the water which
I had never seen before. The sky was beautiful — blue with little
patches of white. On the shore were numbers of boats painted
white and overturned. In the midst of these sat an old man, mend-
ing a net. He had a large frame, was very strong, had gray hair,
blue eyes and was evidently a man of the sea. He looked toward
the girl and seemed to call her to him. There was a look in his
eyes betokening his love of a simple life. Presently the girl ap-
peared beside him and was happy.
I said to myself, “ What place is that?" and my other self re-
plied, “ It is Normandy.”
I immediately wrote of what I had seen and placed it on the
girl’s desk.
Shortly after this, she came excitedly to me, and her eyes had a
frightened look as though she thought me a witch.
She said, “ This is wonderful. It is all true. How do you see
these things ? ”
I asked, “ Do you recognize the man ? ”
She replied, “ Yes. He is my father.”
“ And he was a fisherman and lived in Normandy," I said.
“ Yes,” she replied.
“ But,” I said, “he will return, for he loves a simple life, and
you will be married and go there too, to live.”
She replied, “ He loves a simple life and Normandy. About the
future I cannot say.”
I realized at once that this was worth recording and I hastily
drew up the story as I had related it to her and asked her to sign it.
She read it carefully and signed the statement.
368 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
A moment later I saw her surrounded by a number of girls
(Catholic) who were arguing excitedly.
Presently she came to my desk with the same frightened look in
her eyes. “ O,” she said, “ please let me have that paper a minute."
“ What for?" I asked.
“ Why,” she said, stammering, “ you say my father loves a simple
life and he’s extravagant.”
“ Are you sure? " I asked.
“ O, yes,” she cried, " he’s very extravagant. He don't like a
simple life at all."
“ O,” I said, scenting treachery, “ you wish to correct that
statement ? "
“ Yes," she said.
“ And you will return it ? ” I asked.
“ O, yes,” she replied.
She went hurriedly to her desk, crushed the paper, which I had
given her, in her hand, and with her friends hurriedly left the
building.
A number of the girls (Protestant) who had witnessed the act
were so indignant that they wished me to relate the whole affair in
writing and would bear witness to it. But as it lacked only ten
minutes of closing time I did not do this.
I will give you the names of some of these witnesses who I am
sure will corroborate my statement.
Mrs. Devere, Bookkeeping Division.
Mrs. Delancey.
Miss Ruth Roberts, Bookkeeping Division.
Miss Vesta Leonard, Bookkeeping Division.
[Pseudonyms.]
Very truly,
Annie A. West.
Owing to pressure of work I did not wTite to the witnesses at
once and they were soon scattered by wholesale releases from
service. But the names were given by Mrs. West, and the de-
partment where their owners worked ; she expected that I would
do so. so her good faith is vindicated. The only reasonable
question which remains is whether any divergent particulars were
inadvertently omitted.
I.
IV I1 1
The Case of Mrs. West.
369
The belated denial by Miss Sartouris of the truth of one state-
ment under stress of a motive (desire to destroy her certificate,
probably because of religious scruples) illustrates a fact often
overlooked. That is that there is not only such a thing as ex-
aggeration by a corroborator, but also there is such a thing as
underrating or downright concealment of correct particulars. At
another time Mrs. West got a series of impressions about a
certain lady in my presence, describing a man living in a certain
distant part of North America said to be known to her, stating
that she “ had suffered from a love that had not ‘ panned out,’ ”
and adding some cryptic matter which might be variously con-
strued. The lady in question recognized the description of the
man as that of one known to her and living in the designated
distant region, naturally did not understand the cryptic stuff, and
affirmed “ I am not conscious of suffering from repressed emo-
tion over a love that has not panned out.” Although Mrs. West
had not stated that the lady was then suffering from a love affair
or said anything about repressed emotion, I put down what she
did say, namely, that she had suffered a great deal, etc., as er-
roneous. But a year later there was placed in my hands by the
lady herself a document in the course of which occurred the ad-
mission that long ago she had an affair of the heart lasting for
years and coming to nothing. So what the psychic actually did
say, without possible normal knowledge of the facts, was true,
and the comment, though literally true, was quite misleading in
effect. So also when another lady, whose unsigned and non-
committal script was psychometrized for me by Mrs. West, ad-
mitted the relevance to her of an alleged ** Mr. Dunn,” showed
silent discomposure over a part of the statement, and failed to
keep her promise to give me further particulars of the corre-
spondences later, while her conduct spoiled the test for evidential
purposes, it left the feeling that there may have been more truth
than she cared to admit.*
* There was another psychometrical gToup of impressions received on
handling a manuscript by an unknown writer. It should be excluded because
(1) Mrs. West plainly indicated that she was uncertain that her impressions
were of the writer; (2) the writer of the manuscript was silent as to some
of the particulars when applied to.
370 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Other Impression Groups.
1. About the middle of August, 1920, a striking and some-
what dramatic incident occurred. One day she seemed to be
under a spell of emotion and I asked her what was the trouble.
She told me that a vision or impression had come to her that a
certain very dear friend and relative was dead. She was very
sad all the day, and sometimes seemed to lose herself in reverie.
For reasons unknown to me she was considerably isolated from
some members of her family. But she wrote to a sister living in
a town in New York State and August 23rd received a letter,
which with its envelope postmarked the previous day, are now
before me. The letter is full of family matters and says in part :
S , New York, Aug. 22. 1920.
My dear Annie:
Creep right up here by my side and let me put my arms around
you tight. Yes, dear went home a little over a year ago
You were ill at the time and I could not add to your suffering, so I
told only one or two of the family of it and cautioned them not to
tell you — but I see that they have. I have been very weak in not
telling you before, but I have kept putting it off for one reason or
another. I could not bear to hurt you. . . .
When Mrs. West brought me the letter I noted that her eyes
were swollen with weeping, and have no doubt that the letter first
confirmed her apprehensions. But what caused the apprehen-
sions? Her undoubtedly sincere account was that they came
from the vision or impression. But without knowing whether or
not anyone with whom she had talked or from whom she had
received a letter knew of the death, and exactly what such person
said, we cannot be certain that some veiled allusion did not rouse
a suspicion, perhaps subconscious, which afterward emerged as an
impression from the blue.
2. On August 3rd, 1920, after a Miss X., unknown to Mrs
West, called the latter wrote : “ I feel that she is getting an allow-
ance ( ?) from someone which is gall and wormwood, and does
not cover her expenses. If she is not careful she will have lung
trouble.” Miss X. denied the statement about the allowance, and
said she had no trouble with her lungs. And Mrs. West heard
The Case of Mrs. West.
371
her discuss means of increasing her income, so that there is no
evidentiality left in the sentence.
The next day Mrs. West wrote, “ What tears are in that
woman’s heart. She has received an awful jolt in her life.”
This was true to a degree which would not be, probably, in one
case in a hundred.
Afterward Mrs. West became miffed at Miss X. and had
some of the unpleasant impressions regarding the lady’s future
which were likely to come when she disliked anyone.
3. One day the telephone rang and Mrs. West said, “ Mrs.
D is going to call.” Mrs. D had been in but once, some
days before. There was nothing said about her calling again,
and no reason to expect her that day. The message proved to be
from Mrs. D ’s secretary, and an hour later Mrs. D her-
self came in.
4. Memorandum by Mrs. West:
Sixth November, 1920
About 9.45 the phone rang and a gentleman inquired for the
Secretary. This is my impression of him through hearing his voice.
He is about five feet 7 or 8, broad shouldered, hair streaked
with gray, has gray eyes and I believe a beard and moustache, though
I am not positive of this. He is past 50. Is slow and deliberate,
a deep thinker and a great lover of books. He belongs to some
fraternal order. A. A. W.
My own memorandum a few hours later follows :
The gentleman who phoned me (Mrs. West first going to the
phone) was a Mr. C from Delaware, just come to the city, and
utterly unknown to this office. He called later in the day.
The conversation of the man before I questioned him on the
description showed him to have a mind keen and capacity of think-
ing “ deep ” for a mechanic. He said he could eat books. He was
much impressed by the description. I asked him the color of his
eyes before showing what was written. He said “ gray."
He is 5 ft. 7, Vi inches tall. His eyes are fairly gray and his hair
is gray on the temples. He is clean shaven though he only recently
shaved off a beard and moustache. He is 52 years of age. Is not
372 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
slow and deliberate in manner but is in thought Is a great lover
of books. Belongs to the International Assn, of Machinists. I saw
his card. W. F. P.
Another group of impressions covering twenty-three points,
seemingly beyond the reach of chance, though not without errors,
is omitted with regret, because it would cause offense if printed
even without names. It concerned persons whom Mrs. West
could never have seen.
With the exception of the rapping phenomena, which finish
this report, I have given a fair exhibit of Mrs. West’s work. To
those inclined to remark that some of the incidents are weak I
reply that the weak incidents are part of the material, and so are
the utterly fallacious predictions about revolutions and bombs,
and about awful things to happen to persons against whom the
psychic had emotional complexes. We are not practising special
pleading, but studying constellations of phenomena in their
entirety.
No general verdict will be made and thrust upon the reader.
He can, or ought to, do his own thinking. If he has paid careful
attention he cannot fail to have noted two things.
I. The most remarkable instances of correspondence between
the statements and the external facts were generally where she
least knew the persons concerned and their affairs. With a few
apparent exceptions results were in reverse ratio to acquaintance.
Some cases worth attention related to me occurred after she met
me, but none equal to those of the desk -drawer, “ Dream Girl,”
Mrs. Evans, etc. She got no such noteworthy results even re-
garding the unknown past of other persons well-known to her in
the office as she did in regard to persons quite unknown or slight
acquaintances. Not one single case showed any indication of the
conscious utilization of known facts. As has been pointed out, in
certain cases there may have been particulars affected by in-
stinctive inference, but in the presence of the express declaration
of extremely unlikely facts provably unknown we cannot be sure
that even those particulars so originated. That, as a formal
logical principle, ought to be evident. We must hold the reins
over rival theories with even hand.
II. The most remarkable cases of correspondence between
The Case of Mrs. West.
373
the statements and the external facts occurred, generally speak-
ing, when there was the least room for emotional perturbation.
She was a person of strong partisanship, temperamental, and
subject to gusts of feeling. For this reason, probably, she
usually got poorer results relating to persons whom she knew
very well. Sometimes a sharp division line in evidentiality was
discernible just at the point that her liking or tolerance turned
into dislike, as in my own case. She was intensely interested in
war, politics and labor questions, and her automatic deliverances
along these lines were phantasmagorical, following the general
line of her partisan convictions.
If the reader will experiment with the ordinary run of per-
‘aons he will come to another conclusion.
III. The results of Mrs. West relating to individual persons,
in spite of a percentage of errors, were immeasurably beyond
what can be attained by a series of mere guesses or recorded
fancies. Of course it may be guessed that an unseen stranger is
a man ; the person must be either male or female. But how shall
we measure the chances of getting such a title as “ The Dream
Girl ’’ with literal accuracy? Is there one poem or piece of music
in one thousand by that title, or should we say ten thousand?
Raps and Impressions.
After Mrs. West became an attache of my office there were
periods when raps were heard in different parts of it for which
no normal solution seemed possible. But as raps had occurred at
certain periods before her coming, the only difference being that
they had never been as loud as was now sometimes the case, it is
impossible to say that they were primarily associated with her, so
the account of them will be incorporated in a general report of
phenomena of this character occurring both in my home and the
office.
But there were certain groups of raps under experimental con-
ditions, when Mrs. West was present, which may perhaps find a
place here as appropriately as in any other connection. But it
should be remarked that the other principal in the experiments,
Miss D. B., is a medium of semi-professional character, and that
she states that raps had often occurred in her sittings.
On the evening of August 4th, 1920, I began experiments
374 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
with Mrs. West and Miss D. B., in the office of the A. S. P. R.,
for whatever might come. After certain impressions and auto-
matic writing by Miss D. B. of an unevidential character, she got
an impression of the presence of a woman who had committed
suicide, with particulars which were evidential to a considerable
degree in relation to me if there was no normal leakage of the
facts, but there were reasons why I could not be quite certain that
this was the case. She also stated, “ all the books here are going
out. You are going out of here much sooner than you have any
idea of,” to which I remarked, “ I have no idea of going.” The
removal, not then contemplated, has taken place, but not until
April, 1922.
Sitting of August 11, 1920.
At 7.15 p. m., August 11, 1920, I again met Mrs. West and Miss
D. B. in the office of the A. S. P. R. The part taken by each lady
will be designated by her initials.
D. B. Described a man named Herbert as present, but he was
unrecognized. She then had a series of impressions regarding a
man who was drowned, which was evidential in relation to me pro-
viding, as I said before, that no normal information on the matter
had reached her, but again it is barely possible that there had.
Here I had the ladies put their hands on the table with fingers
lightly touching it. It is a table three and a half by two feet and
rather heavy.
D. B. “ I feel as I did the other night, as though I felt the
motion of a boat. Either some one on a boat or a ship at a distance.”
Perhaps this was a suggestion from the fact that Mrs. West’s hands
and arms had begun to vibrate. The vibration increased more and
more evidently to Mrs. West’s surprise, as it was a new experience.
Both ladies heard a tapping on her chair and faint sounds were
heard in the table, but may well have been from the strain of the
vibration now almost violent.
D. B. This man says, “ I don't know James, but James sends
greetings to you.” [The man who was drowned probably knew
neither William James nor James H. Hyslop, if either of these was
meant.]
Mrs. W.’s whole body is now in a state of vibration and the table
The Case of Mrs. West. 375
begins to work. After a while she gives up, is numb, etc. The
table is too heavy.
D. B. “A misunderstanding. He thought that you thought he
didn’t appreciate what you did for him."
The vibration had now ceased and the hands of the two ladies
are resting quietly on the table when knocks are heard on it I have
mv pad for notes on the corner of the table, but am sitting suffi-
ciently away from it so that I can watch both above and below it.
The hands are resting lightly on the finger tips and wrists, and
there is no contact below.
Knocks on the table. Now I feel a group right under my pad
apparently, light ticks. A lot of them are going cm, now louder,
seemingly directly under my pad.
I say “ We are much interested. Could you answer questions
if arranged in a code?" A volley of small taps.
A. A. W. “ I’ve been asking my brother if he wouldn't knock.”
The table rises and comes down with a slam.
This was the strangest phenomenon of the evening. The
ladies were sitting opposite each other, each about the middle of
a long side. I at one end, D. B. on my right, A. A. W. on my
left. At the moment I was intently watching both above and
below the table. The two ladies were as fixed in position as graven
images, with no contact save the light pressure of their hands.
The table came up on the side of A. A. W. and since her every
finger was fully on top and there was no contact below, this could
not have been normally brought about by her. The pressure
would have to be on the other side. Mrs. W. is a very slender
person, weighing perhaps 115 pounds; Miss D. B. has a fairy-like
figure of perhaps 95 pounds weight and her fingers are tiny.
There was no flattening out of her hand, and no pulling move-
ment. I weigh 165 pounds and am muscular, but the next morn-
ing tried in vain to make the table rise on one side by a pressing
pull on the other without my hands flattening and the pull of the
muscles plainly evidencing itself. I had Mr. M. M. Dawson, a
large man, try, and it was impossible to escape seeing the appear-
ance of effort. But at the time that the table lifted on the side
opposite D. B. both pairs of hands were resting quietly arched,
and it is quite impossible that the tiny fingers of D. B. could have
376 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
done it. I distinctly saw that Mrs. W.’s knees and feet were
still, midway between the legs of the table on her side. I find
myself doubting as I reflect on the strangeness of the occurrence,
but my contemporaneous record and clear memory assure me
that at the time I was completely convinced that it was not due
to any muscular force.
Here I explain the code, 3 raps for yes, 1 for no, 2 for don't
know or inability to answer by yes or no.
P. Is any one here whom any of us know ? ’’ * Both ladies say
a man stands to the left of Mrs. W.
P. “ Should we get a lighter table for next time ? ’’
No response. “ Did the movement of the table mean that Mrs.
West’s brother is here ? ” Both ladies reported 3 raps in the centre
of the table. My hearing being dull, I did not perceive them.
P. “ Is the table too heavy ? ” The ladies heard raps but were
uncertain whether two or three. “ Answer that again, please.” No
response.
D. B. Sees two disks, blue, with hole in center, roll from the
right end of the table down the middle.
P. “ Can you make the raps come under my pad again?" No
change in the location was perceptible, following this question. A
rap was heard nearer the center, apparently. No foot or anything
but hands — tips of fingers — touching.
D. B. to A. A. W. “ You are entangled in a lot of tall grass —
a symbol, probably, and the man on the other side that you did
something for is cutting it down [Construed by Mrs. W., I believe,
to mean her brother]. I don’t know where you live but there is a
very depressing atmosphere. [Emphatically confirmed by Mrs. W.
afterward]."
D. B. “ I feel a terrible heat wave. Put your hands above
mine." Mrs. W. reports that she feels the heat. I tried and cer-
* The reader need not, unless the illusion pleases him, fancy the experi-
menter as a pop-eyed devotee, possessed by the “ will to believe " that spirits
were at hand. The questions were asked in order to test and study the re-
actions. The questions were indeed suggestional, but 1 would be interested to
learn that a table is suggestible or that by suggestion energy may be caused
to emanate from a human subject other than by muscular pressure, and to
create rapping sounds on the table.
The Case of Mrs. West.
377
tainly seemed to. But when the palm side, supposed to be cold, is
uppermost, I fed heat from that too!
D. B. “ Right in front of me in letters like phosphorous I see
Arabella Simpson. She is about thirty, fat, wears hoopskirts and
skirt looped up with little pink flowers.
“ I feel as though I had a hot blanket all around me.”. Things
have been moving very slowly, silence much of the time, and there
have been no raps for perhaps 15 minutes. But now there came a
fairly loud one.
A. A. W. “ I think that was my brother.” Three raps, heard
by the ladies.
P. “ If we meet Wednesday will you be here? ”
Three raps reported by both ladies.
Mrs. W. asked her brother to give his old knock. He was ac-
customed to knock once on a door, pause, and then knock twice.
The combination, one rap, pause, two raps, was plainly heard by
all, on the table. Hands as before.
P. “Try to make a few taps under my pad.” I felt several.
A little later more were both felt and heard by me and the others.
P. " Will you give your own knock ? ” It came very distinctly,
— knock, pause, knock, knock, at my corner of the table.
P. “ Are you pleased with your success ? ”
Three rapid knocks, heard by all, followed by a lot of taps under
my pad.
P. “ Could you remove the raps to the other end of the table ? ”
Two raps beneath pad [meaning uncertainty?] Then two appar-
ently just beyond the pad, then a number more. I had Mrs. W. put
her hands on the other end of the table and after a little she felt the
taps under her hands. Directly afterward all heard a sharp click
and all looked in the same direction and located it in the same place,
the glass of a book-case which projected into the room about three
feet beyond the table and in line with the direction that the raps had
apparently been traveling.
P. “ Produce that again if possible." The ladies report hear-
ing the tap on the bookcase again lightly, but it was not audible to me.
P. “Can you do it a third time over there?” Nothing was
heard anywhere in response to this.
P. “ Will you be present to-morrow when we try the table ? ”
Raps, number not certain. “Do you know where it will be?”
378 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Three raps, which would indicate yes. “ Will you be present ? ” No
raps came.
A. A. W. “ I feel that he wants to ask me about Albert
[pseudonym for name of a living brother]. Here Mrs. W. asked
a question which was not recorded for lack of time, but which prob-
ably was to inquire if some message in relation to Albert was in-
tended. A lot of louder raps ensued. A. A. W. “ Is it your wish
that George and I shall live together ? ” A volley of distinctly
audible raps.
P. “ Make your answers distinctly by your signal.” The com-
bination of one knock, pause, two knocks came. Then a lot more.
P. “ I think we will say good-bye, and we hope to meet you to-
morrow night.” Three distinct and measured raps. The sitting
ended.
This evening opened up a new chapter in my personal experi-
ence with the phenomena of raps. I had studied them for months
in my home and there the only ways in which they plainly indi-
cated conscious will and intelligence were in coming at designated
hours and in abstention on nights before I was to make Sunday
morning addresses, as though to avoid disturbing my sleep when
it was most needed. But now questions were undoubtedly
answered by someone or something, somehow. The giving of
the peculiar arrangement of knocks used by Mrs. West's dead
brother is the most unmistakable example.
The raps on the evening of August 11th were mostly or en-
tirely related to Mrs. West. Miss B. did not even have an im-
pression that anyone connected with them and her was present
as Mrs. W. did. It was queries related to Mrs. W.’s affairs
which won the loudest and the most — so to speak — excited re-
sponses. It was her brother’s signal which was repeatedly given,
and it was after the first mention of him that one side of the table
went up and came down with a bang.
Mrs. W. then, if any of the embodied group, was the one
“ doing it." I recognized this logical implication early in the
sitting, and. though I watched both parties, I watched Mrs. W.
with special care. It is not pleasant to hand bouquets to one’s
self in public, but it seems necessary to explain that I have some
skill in the art of watching. The usual table tilting and rapping
The Case of Mrs. WesX.
379
performance is a dreary one to me, it is so obviously accounted
for. I once had a private sitting with the most noted “ pro-
fessor ” in America of the art of becoming aware of the contents
of folded billets. I did not actually see a single act of “ switch-
ing ” one paper for another, but I saw and tabulated six observed
facts, which would have no conceivable relation to genuine
thought-reading, but which were suggestive of a particular species
of fraud. But I saw no act and no appearance whatever on the
part of Mrs. West or Miss D. B., throughout the evening, in the
slightest degree suspicious or suggestive of either conscious or
unconscious muscular causation of the sounds.
Sounds can be made in this table by placing the hands with
the whole palm in firm contact and using considerable muscular
effort. It is probable that these sounds resemble a few of those
e
T~aJ>le.
CE7
which occurred when only the tips of the fingers or the tips of
the fingers and the wrists were in contact. But pressure cannot
produce the louder and more resonant raps of the evening of
August 11th.
But not only cannot muscular strain produce all the kinds of
rapping heard, but no such muscular strain was being exercised.
Not even the vibration of Mrs. West’s hands and body at the
first of the sitting had produced (if it was this that produced)
more than small ticking sounds. And it was when the vibration
had entirely died away and both little ladies were sitting quietly
under the full blaze of the electric light with hands lightly rest-
ing upon the table, and an observer so intently watching them
that much of his notes was written without looking at the paper —
it was under these circumstances that the sounds occurred which
bore an intelligent relation to questions asked.
The click on the book case must not be forgotten. The above
rough diagram shows approximately the relation of persons and
380 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
objects. I was sitting writing at arms’ length in order to be able
to see under the table. A volley of small taps were coming under
my pad. I asked that a rap should be made at the other end of
the table. Then we all heard taps seemingly just beyond my
pad, then the ladies reported taps at about the middle of the
table, then Mrs. W., whom I had asked to put her hands on the
other end, felt and heard raps under them, and then — the whole
series occupied hardly more than a minute — a click, as distinct
as if the glass had been tapped with a metal pencil, was heard by
all on the book case, apparently in a straight line with the pre-
ceding taps. There was no movement on the part of either of
the ladies or myself which could account for the click on the
glass which, by its direct sequence in time and direction, seemed
to terminate the series which had travelled from end to end of
the table.
Sitting of August 12, 1920,
At home of Miss D. B. 63rd St., New York, evening.
Present, Miss D. B., Mrs. A. A. W., W. F. P., as before. Also
Mrs. D. B. (mother of Miss D. B.), Miss D. B.’s brother, Z (a girl),
Miss Gunn (a friend of Mrs. D. B.).
We sat around a rather heavy wooden table, firmly built, about
two and a half feet in diameter.
A. A. W. “ My brother is here, and has just recalled to me a
funny little song about a gun " [presumably somebody, the spirit or
Mrs. W. herself was reminded of the song by the presence of a lady
named Gunn],
All but W. F. P. put hands on the table. After some minutes
Mrs. W.’s hands began to vibrate. The vibration increases regularly.
Some minutes now pass with little change, except that Miss D. B.’s
mother’s arms are now also vibrating, somewhat less than Mrs.
W.'s, and in a transverse direction while Mrs. West is vibrat-
ing forward and back. A strange tick is heard, and in about half a
minute another, both on the table, then one distinctly back of Miss
D. B. Two more in the table. The others agree that raps now went
around the table under the hands of all.
P. [Pad on table now.] “Can you bring them under my
hand?” A number of ticks were felt by me immediately, but I
The Case of Mrs. West.
381
could not tell where they originated. Now a lot of taps occurred,
apparently under my pad.
P. “ Is Mrs. West's brother here? ” It was reported that there
were at first three ordinary knocks, and then the signal, one, pause,
two, as on last evening, but they were not loud enough for me to
hear them. " I wish you would give your signal under my pad.”
[Held on the table.] Three raps were distinctly felt. Then more
came.
Mrs. D. B. “ Please knock louder.” A lot of taps felt by me,
heard by the others.
Mrs. D. B. “ Will you tip the table? ” No response.
Mrs. D. B. “Is that for Mrs. West?” Three raps, signifying
yes.
At the suggestion of Miss D. B.’s mother we tried for a message
by table tilting, calling the alphabet. The table tilted to indicate let-
ters, all hands but mine being in contact. We got GOOD GI.
Some one guessed “ Good Girl,” and three raps seemed to signify
assent. Then EVE and a number of raps R. Y. “ Every ” pro-
nounced and C. Three raps. AL. The table moved with wrench-
ing sounds L. Three raps. Some little time previous the vibration
of the ladies ceased. Too much had been going on for me to be sure
just when. L. O.
P. " Was your message completed ? ” No answer.
A. A. W. Proposes that she and Miss D. B. have their hands
on the table, as in the successful experiment of last night. Done.
Vibration of Mrs. W.’s hands and arms begins and increases. Noth-
ing else happens.
Then Miss D. B. and Miss G. tried it, sitting on opposide sides.
The table lifts on Miss D. B.’s side, but Miss G.’s hands look as
though they might be exercising considerable pressure.
P. “ Is Mrs. West’s brother here ? ” One loud knock.
P. “ I would think that meant no. Am I right ? ” 3 light raps.
P. “ A spirit connected with one of those here ? ” 3 light raps.
P. “ With the family that lives here? ” 3 raps.
Here Mrs. D. B. asked questions too rapidly for me to record,
without responses.
P. “ Is it a relation of the family ? " 3 raps.
P. ** A woman ?" 3 light raps.
P. “ The one they call Alice?” No answer.
382 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Several more questions elicited no response.
P. “Couldn’t you make a distinct rap on my pad.” [I had
Mrs. W. rest her hands on the pad, as it rested on the table.] Sev-
eral raps heard on the table.
P. “ Concentrate your effort for a good big one." No response.
Mrs. W.’s hands off, no sound from table. Her hands replaced
and raps came.
P. “ Have you a message for Mrs. West? ”
One rap, indicating no.
P. “ Is there one for Harold? ” [He was Miss D. B.’s brother
present, and the query was suggested to me.] A lot of raps.
P. " Shall we try the alphabet?” No answer.
P. “Is it his uncle?” [Query suggested.] 3 raps.
P. to Harold. " Ask anything you like.”
Harold. “ Will you spell the message alphabetically?”
No answer.
Mrs. D. B. asks for louder knocks and says,
“ If you can’t get a spirit who can? ” No result.
A loud rap was heard by all, apparently on the piano in the rear
of Mrs. W., but not within reach of her or others.
P. “ Couldn’t you rap directly on my pad here ? ”
Another rap heard by me, and said by the others to be on the
piano — I was not sure of its locality, except that it seemed to be
away from the table.
We now went to the dining-room to experiment with the dining-
table. Here sounds were heard from time to time, mostly in chairs
in which persons were sitting, and therefore open to question.
The whole sitting was much less satisfactory than that of the
previous evening, mainly because of the number of hands that
were usually on the table. But some of the best results were
when only two or three persons were touching it, and a part
when Mrs. West was excluded, while at other times results di-
rectly followed the application of her hands. The two raps said
to have been on the piano certainly did not sound to me as if
they could have come from the table or the chairs.
Of course, to anyone who is looking for order, meaning, in-
telligibility, the whole sitting with its “ Good Girl. Every Call
L O,” and its general failure to carry out any hopeful preface.
The Case of Mrs. IVest.
383
will seem simply silly. But if I were in a room alone and pre-
sumably out of human sound and there suddenly became audible
the classical words “ Hickory Dickory Dock,” the interest to me
would not be in knowing what the words meant, but how they
came to be heard at all. The interest of the raps to me was
mainly, not what they tried to say, but how they originated. As
indicated, many of them on the 12th might have come from un-
conscious muscular strain, while a few seemed to me quite
unlikely to have that source. In general, those of the 11th I am
sure could not have resulted from muscular pressure.
Other Sittings.
On August 18th, at 7.30 p. m., in the office of the Society, Miss
D. B., Mrs. W. and W. F. P. met. There were impressions and
purported messages, but nearly everything of this kind which was
at all impressive for any reason was announced by Miss D. B., so
does not properly belong in this place. About seven raps on the table
were heard altogether, most of them loud enough to be heard by me
very clearly. But several occurred during Mrs. W.’s vibration spells
— though some as distinct ones did not and I never was able to es-
tablish that the vibrations made the raps more likely or clearer — and
there was no intelligible relation of the sounds to what was said.
The same persons experimented in the same place, beginning
7.30 p. m., August 25th. Only 2 raps were heard this evening, one
of them by the ladies only, on or near the floor, the other by all of us,
in the table, and for which I could assign no cause.
All conditions the same, beginning 7.15 p. m. Sept. 1st, except
that a smaller and lighter table was substituted, but one carefully
selected because it was almost impossible to produce sounds by any
ordinary pressure or pull on it. Mrs. W. had occasional minor spells
of vibrating, and Miss D. B. also, less frequently, but I could not
trail any relation between these recurrences and the occasional sounds
which were as likely to take place when the hands of both ladies
were quietly and easily resting on the table. The others heard a dull
thump in the table early.
D. B. feels sea-sick, and as if being pulled through space a mile
a minute. Then Mrs. W.’s arms twitched and Miss D. B.’s were
vibrating at the elbows as she continued : “ A nervous woman named
Angelina is here.” [Mrs. W. afterward told us that she had had an
3&4 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Aunt Angelina who was nervous, always feeling nauseated, having
stomach attacks, etc. Traveling in the cars would sometimes bring
on the symptoms. “ The last time I saw her was on my wedding
day. She fainted then."]
Later D. B. said that she saw two men on her right, beyond the
projecting bookcase, “ fighting over a book, having an awful scrap.”
After some description of a watch carried by one of the men, the
ladies report hearing 2 knocks on the projecting bookcase.
P. “ Hope you will knock so that I can hear.” Miss D. B. says
that she hears faint raps in some place. Mrs. W. does not.
P. “ Wish you would knock on the desk or table so that I could
hear you.” Both ladies say they hear sounds beyond the projecting
bookcase, like keys rattling.
A. A. W. “ Some one is coming here with authority to look
around. He is rattling his keys very importantly. Is going to re-
adjust some things. Is looking all around." Here a rap was heard
by the others and felt by me as my hand rested in my pad on the
table. It must be understood that the ladies had their hands lightly
on the table most of the time.
A. A. W. “ He says you won’t know yourself when he gets
through.” W. F. P. “ Ask if he is coming to make trouble or im-
prove things to our satisfaction." D. B. hears some one say, “ Big-
ger quarters." Two more dull thumps come on the table, felt by me
distinctly. [We were in a crowded state and perhaps could be
guessed that we would have to move into bigger quarters before a
very great time. As a matter of fact we did not move until more
than a year and a half later, when we went into quarters in the
same building half again as large. It was the case that a gentleman
with authority “ came and inspected the proposed quarters, and
looked all around," planning how the rooms should be arranged, and
took steps, “ to readjust some things ” besides for what he regarded
as important reasons.]
Mrs. W. “ Some one says ‘ No weak spirit to-night.’ I feel
they are trying to lift the table. He came with such vitality ! ”
Mrs. W.’s arms are now vibrating rather strongly. She says, “ A
change is coming in October, which will bring more money. I saw
it flashed out.” [If this was meant to apply to the Society, I do not
know of any verification. There might be something in relation to
the investments which I would not know about]
The Case of Mrs. West.
385
[At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society, held Oc-
tober 4th, 1920, the Executive Committee reported “ a gift aggregat-
ing about $60,000.00 to $65,000.00,” from one who had conferred
about it with Dr. James H. Hyslop before his death, the income from
the amount to be used under certain restrictions, for current ex-
penses.— G. O. T.]
Mrs. W.’s hands plunge convulsively. The same again, forcing
the table along the floor. Then she says, “ One of the first changes
is that X is to be hung on a nail. She looks like a limp rag doll.”
Presently it was intimated that the man with the keys would do the
hanging. [It is true that soon after this the person referred to as
X was released from employ, but no such man seems to have had
anything to do with it.]
Both ladies then had impressions regarding international affairs,
fallacious as this sort of stuff generally is.
The sitting on the evening of Sept. 8th with the same parties was
without a single rap or other sound to attract attention. Some of
the impressions of Miss D. B. had interest but they do not belong
here.
At a sitting on the evening of Sept. 15th, the ladies reported
once hearing two raps in the table. I did not.
The same parties met at 7.35 p. m. of Sept. 30th, in the office of
the Society, and one person was added to the circle, the learned
philologist, Mr. S. Things were said of more or less relevance to
Mr. S. by Miss D. B. The first part of my record reads thus :
Hands of ladies on table. In 2 minutes Mrs. W’s hands con-
vulse. Soon her fingers twist over each other a moment. Repeated.
Mrs. W. “ I see that man in the boat, something wrong with
him — can’t see him well.”
P. [To purported spirits.] “ Please try to produce what oc-
curred on the first night.” Slight rap heard, soon after another. I
heard neither. Mrs. W.’s hand and arm vibrating at 7.50.
P. “ Is any one here we know — or don’t know?"
7.55 : Miss D. B.’s hand flies off “ like an electric shock, o-o-oh ! ”
8.00, all the rest hear a snap beyond the middle of the table away
from me. I always occupy end toward my desk.
No more raps were heard during the sitting. [My daughter
Theodosia, who knew we were to have a sitting and that raps had
been heard hitherto, asked me next morning if we got raps this time,
386 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
saying that in the evening she heard 3 raps and had the impression
that they were somehow connected with those in the office. I made
record of what she said at once but did not until long after reread
the record and find that, as shown above, just 3 raps were on record.
Her impression was a coincidence or a telepathic impression of the
number of raps we got, or what you please.]
This was the last experiment in which Mrs. W. and Miss D.
B. participated together, for the former surprised me by suddenly
refusing to sit with the latter, saying that she disliked her very
much. This dislike had been so successfully disguised that I had
not suspected it, but it appeared to have originated early in the
series. It is probable that the leading part taken by Miss
D. B. in regard to impressions was resented, consciously or
unconsciously.
Let us review the series of sittings in the office (omitting the
sitting in the D. B. house under another and less determinate set
of conditions) with respect to the rap factor.
Aug. 4 : Nothing heard.
Aug. 1 1 : Many raps varying from slight ticks to very audible
knocks, apparently answering questions and following directions,
not confined to table. Hands quietly resting on table throughout
while raps were being heard.
Aug. 18: Seven raps on table — several, but not all of them,
during “ vibration ” spells.
Aug. 25 : Two raps.
Sept. 1 : (Another table used at this and subsequent sittings.)
Several knocks on projecting bookcase, apparently, and other
sounds in that neighborhood four raps on table.
Sept. 8 : No raps.
Sept. 15 : Two raps on table.
Sept. 30 : Three raps on table.
Not only were raps scanty after the sitting of August 1 1th,
but they were fainter, so that I was unable to hear any after
August 18th, though I felt the impact of one now and then
What caused the raps ?
Was it the vibrations of the arms of Mrs. W. and, occasion-
ally Miss D. B. ? No, for during all the rapping of August 1 1th,
which outweighed in interest that of all the other sittings together.
The Case of Mrs. West.
387
no vibration was going on. A part of the raps in other sittings
were during vibration, the greater part not.
Were the supposed raps purely hallucinatory? Then the hal-
lucinations were shared by three persons in a number of sittings
in the office, four in one. They were systematized to an extra-
ordinary degree, for the hearers usually located them in the same
places, when they seemed loud to the others they were likewise
audible to me, when faint to others they were inaudible to me,
but then often I felt the impact of them. The collective “ hal-
lucinations ” burst out in full force on August 11th, previous to
which there had been nothing to arouse expectancy, and subsided
on Aug. 18th after a large degree of expectancy had been aroused.
Were the raps produced by consciously or subconsciously
exercised pressure? I have asserted that on August 11th, the
evening of the grand display, the delicate hands of the two ladies
were resting lightly upon the table. It is possible to exercise sub-
conscious pressure, but impossible to do so when but two hands
are on a heavy table without physical signs of that pressure ap-
pearing in the hands. I watched carefully for such signs, and
they were absent. Besides, how shall we account for the decrease
in the phenomena? The desire for raps was not less subsequent
to August 11th, especially on the part of Mrs. West, to whom the
raps had appeared more responsive. To say nothing of the
sounds heard on the nearby bookcase with which no one was in
contact.
If the raps were of psychic origin, then it is not difficult to
understand why the phenomena faded almost completely out. It
is a well known fact that the exercise of mediumistic powers is
disturbed by turbulent emotion. I have reason to believe that it
was at the home of Miss D. B., on August 12th, that Mrs. W.
conceived her dislike for that lady. The raps began to diminish
from that date. The only new factor introduced into the office
experiments after August 11th of which I am aware was this
element of disharmony — this perturbed emotion — which appears
to have existed only on one side. The very fact that the phe-
nomena died almost completely out under the same material con-
ditions is to a degree an indication of some other than physical
causation.
388 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENT.
COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATION OR MAL-OBSERVATION.
The following incident is from the collection of Dr. Hodgson
and is an especially important one for showing how intelligent
men, or such as pass for this in the community, claim to be sure
of their facts when they neither have nor offer any better evi-
dence for them than many a person offers for a ghost. The nar-
rative records that several persons saw a woman come into a
room and that when it was necessary to have it cleared the woman
could not be found and yet no one saw her go out. The circum-
stances, if the account of the room be correct, made it impossible
for her to have gone out any other way than that by which she
entered. It is of course quite possible or probable that the facts
were as stated, but there is no more proof that the woman went
out than that she went in. It is just as possible that no woman
came into the room and hence that the phenomena represented a
collective hallucination. But it is manifestly absurd to state as a
fact what is only the result of an inference from non-observation !
We have only Mr. Wendell’s testimony that the woman came
into the room and no one else attests his observation and there
were no pains taken to present the evidence that others saw her.
But Mr. Wendell is “ cock-sure ” that she went out because she
was not seen to do so! He does not see that there is an alterna-
tive between a woman’s coming into the room and disappearing
in a miraculous manner and a woman coming in and disappearing
without being seen by those present. This alternative is collective
hallucination. Of course, we can no more hastily believe in col-
lective hallucinations than we can in ghosts, but sufficient evidence
has accumulated to prove them to be facts and such possibilities
have to be reckoned with in such instances as Mr. Wendell de-
scribes. His attitude of mind is quite as credulous as that of the
despised spiritualist, only it is more respectable. It is probable
that his interpretation of the circumstance is correct, but it is
only estimating the probabilities from experience, it is not pre-
senting evidence. We must hold such persons to strict account-
Incident.
389
ability for their theories, especially when they hold us to these.
The only proper thing to do in such experiences is to narrate the
facts and, in default of evidence, offer no explanations at all.
We may prefer the one suggested by inference on the basis of
similar experiences. But preference is not proof, and the fact
that the phenomenon had appeared perplexing to the informant
suggests a weakness in the inference, tho it does not tell against
collective hallucination.* — J. H. H.
_ A/n/£*
358 Marlborough St., 29 March, 1893.
Dear Hodgson:
An incident occurred at the Athenaeum on Monday, which seemed
to me so curiously illustrative of the worthlessness of most appar-
ently indubitable evidence, as to be worth your notice. I scribble
here a brief account of it. If you would like a fuller, I’ll take you
to the spot in question after lunch on Monday.
With three other trustees of the Athenaeum, I was in the Trus-
* Many instances of as curious logic as that of the late Professor Wendell,
in connection zvith discussions on psychical research could be cited from per-
sons who reason soundly on other subjects. — Editor.
390 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
tees’ room. In the room are all the plates of costumes, etc., which
many people are examining for the Artists’ Festival. Accordingly
we thought proper to allow anybody to look at them — to enter the
room — until the actual moment for our meeting arrived. I en-
close a rough plan of the room. There is but one entrance door.
The spiral stairs, of open iron work, lead to an open iron work
gallery about the room, to which there is no other access than the
stairs.
A few minutes before the meeting, when the Trustees, marked
S, C, and I, were in the places marked at the long table, a strange
lady entered the room, passed through the narrow space between
S and the bookcase and was seen by all four of us to ascend the
stairs. A little later the Librarian came in and took his seat at table.
It was suggested then that I inform the lady that the meeting
was about to begin, and that she must leave the room. A thorough
search of the room, the gallery and the small room, accessible only
through this large one, failed to find her. She simply was not there.
The point is that four of us noticed her come in, that she could
not have got out without passing close to all four of us, and that
none of us noticed her go out. Any one would have sworn that she
didn’t ; yet she clearly must have gone, quite unnoticed.
Yours sincerely,
Barrett Wendell.
>0*1
Correspondence.
391
CORRESPONDENCE.
Washington, D. C., May 20th, 1922.
Dr. Walter Prince,
Sec’y. Am. Soc. for Psychical Research.
My Dear Dr. Prince :
I feel very sure that you are a man and a student who is capable
of accepting constructive criticism in good part. (1) For some time
past, I and (from the information that I can get), many other mem-
bers and subscribers to the Journal of the A. S. P. R. are dissatisfied
with the tone of it. (2)
No one knows any better than I do that the Society has to deal
with an obscure and difficult field of Research, in which gross fraud,
overcredulity and wild fanaticism are constantly being encountered
and have to be countered if we are to remain safe and sane. (3) But
it seems to me, and I say it with all courtesy and in the hope that no
offense will be taken, that the Journal has adopted an attitude of
sneering innuendo and criticism toward all, who, as the result of
private investigation and experiences, have arrived at the conviction
that the continuity of life after death has been, and is being,
proved. (4)
As an instance of what I am objecting to I may refer to the
Editorial in the April Journal in which a reply to Mr. Dingwall’s
criticism of over-credulity in America forms a part. The reply is a
1. Quite so. Any person who can compose a well-worded and reasoned
argument against anything we print in the Journal finds an open forum
in either the department entitled “Correspondence” or that named
“ Conversazione.”
2. No doubt this is true. It has been true every year that the Journal has
been issued, and it is true of the English Journal in every year of its history.
It would be true if we showed more partiality for the spiritistic hypothesis,
or less.
3. Exactly, and this justifies the utterances to which our correspondent
takes exception.
4. That the editor has no prejudice against “ prii’ate investigation and ex-
periences” is illustrated in the very issue (April) which contains the passage
chiefly criticised, since it contains no less than eighty-nine private experiences
and investigations, summarized or in full. That there is no prejudice against
“the conviction that the continuity of life after death has been, and is being
proved ” is evidenced by the fact that some have complained that we made our
inclination toward the spiritistic theory in certain cases too manifest. Others
think the editorial attitude fairly judicial. The April issue contains incidents
which prima facie point, some to the telepathic and others to the spiritistic
hypothesis.
392 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
clever piece of polemical argument for it contrives to hit at, I might
almost say insult five separate, more or less prominent people, in one
short paragraph. (5) Of course most of these five people have a
host of friends and followers who are certainly not attracted to the
much needed support of the Society by such bitterly clever skits. (6)
I will only here refer to the innuendo directed against my friend Sir
5. The paragraph referred to is as follows :
"Why did not Mr. Dingwall remark that it seems difficult to believe that
anywhere but in America a man could run a ‘ psychic college ' with a large
following, who publicly maintains that Houdini dematerializes in one of his
stage acts, bones, lungs, liver and clothing, passes through the glass walls of
a tank, comes together in good shape again behind the curtain with every'
stitch intact, and walks out before the audience? Why did he not observe
that it seems difficult to believe that Eglinton could, elsewhere than in Amer-
ica, fool so many people into believing that they were getting spirit scripts
with the true life characteristics of their relatives' writing, when the published
book of examples shows s» clearly that they are by one hand? Why did he
not, in the article of his in our Journal last month, nonchalantly wonder if
any but an American creator of shrewd detective stories could make such
crude apologies for the trickster Bailey? Evidently because all these people
happened to belong to the tight little island.”
6. The five people are Mr. Dingwall, Mr. MacKenzie, Eglinton, Bailey
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
(1) Mr. Dingwall took the good-natured thrusts at “a certain conde-
scension ” in good part, as we knew he would do, and in a letter not intended
for publication persists in his opinion that Americans are peculiarly gullible,
whereat, in turn, we are not in the least offended.
(2) Does Dr. Cushman mean to imply that in his opinion, as a man of
science, Harry Houdini may be able twice a day completely to dissolve into
gas and come together again? We think not Then wherein have we in-
sulted Mr. MacKenzie by the intimation that he is super-credulous in main-
taining (“ Spirit Intercourse," pp. 86-87) that this stupendous miracle takes
place ?
(3) The English Society printed a great deal of testimony regarding Eg-
linton, and many by their letters showed that they were “ dissatisfied with the
tone ” of its Journal on that account. Yet Dr. Hodgson said of him (.Pro-
ceedings of S. P. R., IX, 359-360) “ Eglinton, moreover, is a detected trick-
ster. At one of his so-called 1 materialization ' seances, pieces of muslin and
beard were cut from the supposed ‘spirit,’ and these fitted the muslin and
beard afterwards found in Eglinton's portmanteau. He also co-operated with
Madame Blavatsky in the production of a spurious marvel, was detected in
fraud at Munich and was discovered surreptitiously writing at one of his
so-called ‘independent writing seances.'" (See also the damnatory reports
of Professor H. Carvill Lewis and others. Proceedings of S. P. R., IV, 338-
380.) No matter whether Eglinton cheated only part of the time or not, our
statement about him is historical fact.
Correspondence.
393
Arthur Conan Doyle. I infer that you believe him to be over-
credulous and easily deceived by fraudulent mediums. We might
leave to one side, perhaps, the question as to whether, as the choice
of the two extremes it is not better to believe too much than too
little. The main question is what right has a scientific psychical in-
vestigator got to sneer at Conan Doyle’s evidences of life after death
if he was not present when they were obtained? The fact is you do
not know whether Sir Arthur’s evidence is good or not, and I do not
think that a sneer ever has been, or ever will be an argument. (7)
Because Conan Doyle approaches the subject in its religious as-
pects, it seems to me all the more reason for kindly unprejudiced
judgment. Certainly this distinguished, earnest man does not teach
anything unchristian or out of line with the definite statements of
the gospels and the epistles of the Christian scripture. The A. S.
P. R. has not taken occasion, as yet, to challenge or criticize the
teachings of Catholic prelates or denominational ministers. The
American Bible Students Association has been sending lecturers
around the country talking to crowded theatres, teaching that mil-
lions now living will never die. You and I do not believe this but
we cannot prove it untrue. The fact is before the Journal of the
Society undertakes to sneer at or deny other people’s beliefs or evi-
dences it would seem that it should reserve its judgments until we
have some controverting facts to work with. (8)
(4) It is likewise a fart that Bailey, at the Grenoble sittings referred to
by Mr. Dingwall in our February issue, produced birds supposed to have been
transported from a distant land by occult means, and that the parties who
had sold the birds to Bailey were afterward discovered and gave their testi-
mony. Even Bailey's backer, Reichel, who brought him to Grenoble for the
experiments, and who had previously pinned his faith to several of the
shadiest American mediums, was convinced that Bailey committed a fraud in
this instance, and wrote him letters of reproach which were published.
(5) Since it was Mr. Dingwall who had commented upon the crudity of
the apologies for Bailey’s trickery, our “ insult ” to Sir Arthur must consist
in the reference to him as the “ creator of shrewd detective stories " or in
momentarily imagining him as an American.
7. There is no “ sneer ” at Sir Arthur in the paragraph referred to, only
a reference to Mr. Dingwall’s demonstration that the defense of Bailey's
fraud was crude. And as the reference was limited to that incident, it is
legitimate to remind our correspondent that the apport of birds from a
distant land does not belong with "evidences of life after death.” Had we
made any original criticism of Sir Arthur’s observations on that case, our
right to do so could not be questioned on the grounds stated, for neither was
he present on that occasion.
8. Surely Dr. Cushman agrees that it is scientifically illegitimate, in
weighing any evidence offered in our field of inquiry, to throw in the balance
its tendency, if established, to support religion. That may be a fortunate fart
394 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
May I also instance your heading to Sir Oliver Lodge’s com-
ments on my “ Evidential Case of Spirit Photography ” which has
just appeared in the May Journal: “ The Purported Spirit Photo-
graph." There seems to me to be a covert meaning in the selection
of the word " purported.” If you mean that it purports to be some-
thing which it is not, who did the purporting? Did I do it, or did
M rs. Deane, I being only an innocent dupe ?
I understand that there is a group of investigators in England
who style themselves “ The Magic Circle ” whose object, amongst
others, it is to “ weave a web ” around Mr. Hope and Mrs. Deane
until they can by one means or another make out a case of fraud.
It would appear that such psychic detectives, are not always above,
the practices of our criminal detectives who do not hesitate to lure
and tempt men to break the law, so that they can immediately arrest
them for doing so. All good mediums are poor, I never heard of a
rich one. Many mediums, like Paladino, have eked out real psychic
power with fraudulent practices. It is no proof of fraud in every
case, to find a medium attempting to fulfill an undertaking in a
certain case, by fraudulent means or preparation. I will admit that
the world's judgment is, once unreliable always unreliable, but the
world’s judgments are often unjust and invariably unscientific. I
do not believe they will catch Mrs. Deane in conscious fraud,
although queer and incomprehensible things keep turning up in
Psychical Research. It is as though there was some power con-
triving and scheming to head off incontrovertible evidence. I wish
to point out that my case of evidence will have to be dealt with, if it
is to be dealt with, on its own merits quite apart from anything else
that may have happened, or may hereafter happen. I go to London
unheralded and unknown, I happen in and find Mrs. Deane; in a
few minutes I am looking at a freshly developed negative that bears
on it, a beautiful picture of my dead child. It did not purport to be
a picture of her, it was one. (9) How do you explain it? Am I a
liar or did I compound the fraud with Mrs. Deane? If so let
if true, but it must not be considered in advance. Such a procedure is the
very antithesis of science. And if the files of the Journal are consulted it will
appear that the formation of judgments under the evident bias of religious
dogma or sentiment, whether by Catholics or Protestants, has often been
criticised. At the same time those who profess to base their opinions upon
evidence, even if, like Sir Arthur, they publicly declare their impatience with
the methods of the S. P. R-, must expect their pronouncements to be dis-
cussed by psychical researchers more than those which rest mainly on relig-
ious prejudices.
9. The term “ purported ” as employed in the literature of psychical re-
search, does not imply skepticism or disrespect. It is constantly coupled with
subjects not yet removed from the arena of debate, even in cases where the
writer accepts their supernormal character.
Correspondence.
395
somebody prove it. If not where did Mi's. Deane get it from and
where did she have it secreted, and how did she know I had lost a
daughter and rdfght some day fall into her hands? I paid her a
guinea ($3.64) for the sitting. Last week I paid a Washington
photographer $36 for a normal sitting. It’s a poor business little
Mrs. Deane is in, if she has to be faked up in advance for all who
happen in on her.
I would be glad if you should consider this an open letter and
publish it in the Journal. In a sense it is critical, but, to my present
point of view, it presents fair and not unjust criticism of subjects
that a great many people are interested in.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) Allerton S. Cushman.
>0*1
396 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
BOOK REVIEWS.
The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, 1921. 8vo. pp. 568.
The nineteenth century was prolific of new sacred books; and this
one was the first (Palmyra, N. Y., 1830). To see it reprinted with still
a powerful following in 1921 leads to many reflections in the mind of
a student of Religion. Such productions fall easily into two main
classes :
1. Those written in some abnormal mental state, generally by what
is now termed automatic writing;
2. Those based upon psychic experiences, but written in the normal
state.
In class 1 we must rank the present work which (setting aside all
stories of fraud and taking it at its face value) was produced by some
kind of crystal-gazing: Joseph Smith looked into “the interpreters”
or the Urim and Thummim, two crystals, and saw therein the trans-
lation of the famous “ gold plates.” In this class also fall Nature's
Divine Revelations, dictated by Andrew Jackson Davis while entranced
in New York ( 1845-1847) ; The Healing of the Nations, by Charles
Linton, of our own Bucks County (N. Y., 1855) ; Oahspe (1881) ; Spirit-
Teachings, by W. Stainton Moses (London, 1883), and now the present-
day Life Beyond the Veil, by another clergyman of the English Church,
G. Vale Owen (London and New York, 1920-1921).
In class 2 we must rank Science and Health, by Mary Eddy (Boston.
1875) and The Perfect Way; or, The Finding of Christ, by Anna Kings-
ford and Edward Maitland (London, 1882).
Class 1 is the weaker of the two, containing voluminous matter, pro-
duced in a mental ferment, and doomed to literary extinction. Whole
pages of platitudes characterize this class. In reading the Book of
Mormon one never finds an oracle, a literary gem, a strong utterance,
except where the Old or New Testament is being quoted. The same
is true of Linton and Oahspe, and predominantly so of Jackson Davis,
though the case of the last was a noteworthy one and calling for serious
study. The underground connection between Davis and Swedenborg is
still an unsolved problem, which engaged the attention of Professor
Bush. As I have pointed out elsewhere, the coined word univercaelum
in the writings of Davis and itself the title of his once famous paper,
whereto Emerson contributed, is simply Swedenborg's universum caelum,
written as one word. Then again the apparition of Swedenborg to Davis
on March 7, 1844, was the real starter of American Spiritualism, and
not the Rochester knockings of the first of April four years later.
Except for a few striking things in Davis, such as his vision of the
process of death, etc., etc., the works in Class 1 which contain powerful
things are those of the two Anglican Divines. The last one makes a
statement which every Mormon may well lay to heart, for the honest
parson records that his invisible dictators complain that things they
never said turn up in script, and things they wanted to say are not
Book Reviews.
397
there! Consequently, until we can compare the entranced utterances
of seers of different nations and religions, and note their agreements,
we cannot begin to have faith in automatic writing. The late James
Hyslop said recently at the Bellevue-Stratford: “I never have believed,
I do not now believe, and I never shall believe anything said by a
medium 1" And yet the speaker devoted all his later life to Psychical
Research, a cause which may one day establish a chain of internationally
accepted facts about the highest things.
A. J. Edmunds.
The Foundations of Spiritualism. By W. Whately Smith. E. P.
Dutton & Co., New York, 1920. Pp. 123.
This is a good book — particularly for those who have no acquaintance
with the subject and are thinking of taking it up for study and ex-
periment. It does not show as much originality as the author’s other
book on “ A Theory of the Mechanics of Survival,” and unlike that
book its rather pretentious, sonorous title raises expectations of a
philosophical treatise which will be disappointed. The little book is
a primer rather than a treatise, but its judicial tone and lucid style are
excellent, and the interest is sustained.
In discussing the evidence for survival which has been accumulated
by psychic research Mr. Smith remarks that the position of the science
without that theory reminds him of the state of astronomical science
before the discovery of Copernicus. Without a theory of discamate
beings which manifest activity in this world psychic science is forced to
resort to more and more complicated concatenations of telepathy, sub-
liminal mental activity and secondary personalities, and while these
functions and agencies are undoubtedly present in much of the phe-
nomena it is difficult to make them account for all. He thinks, taking
into consideration all the available evidence the balance of probabilities
is, on the whole, in favor of the spiritualistic explanation, and the
trend of research seems to lead in this direction.
The chapter on The Process of Communication contains an inter-
esting discussion of automatism. In the concluding chapter the author
remarks that psychic research is probably the most intricate subject with
which the human intellect has ever grappled, and he strongly deprecates
promiscuous dabbling in psychological matters by uninstructed persons,
.especially those of strong emotional tendency. — Geo. H. Johnson.
So Saith the Spirit. By A King’s Counsel, Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner & Co., Ltd., London. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1919.
Pp. 201,
This book by the anonymous author of “I Heard a Voice” is is-
sued as a kind of supplement to that work which was — the publishers
assure us — enthusiastically received in spiritualistic circles. The book
exhibits anonymity to the limit. Most of the messages are attributed
simply to " a nigh spirit,” and any descriptive phrase is very indefinite;
for example, “ a famous philosopher and writer," and where a year is
mentioned in the message, 16 — , only the first two figures are printed
with a footnote reading, “ The year was not left blank in the original.”
Such consideration for the spirits is really touching, and before the
398 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
reader is through the book he sees why self-respecting spirits might
wish to conceal their identity. Although the author takes his work —
the automatic production of his two daughters — very seriously, it con-
tains much unconscious humor. The author writes, " Personally, I have
not the slightest doubt that all the messages we have received — includ-
ing those from historical characters — are genuine.” “In my own case,
my two daughters happen to be very unusually good mediums, and they
take a quite exceptional interest in history and in the biographies of
well-known characters of past days.” Those who attribute to the ac-
tivity of the subliminal mind all supernormal psychic phenomena will
not fail to observe the unintended appropriateness of putting into this
one sentence the two statements which explain the messages.
The historic characters who are named in the book are Lord Byron,
Napoleon and Josephine. Lord Byron, we are told, found himself in
a spiritual body with a duplicate of his deformed foot. He was kindly
allowed the deformity at first to avoid giving him a shock which might
have disturbed belief in his own identity. The most remarkable chapters
are those devoted to Napoleon, who, we are assured is very highly
esteemed in the higher circles of the spirit world, and regarded as a
kind of superman, although he is still studying military maps trying to
find out, what most school boys know, why he was defeated at Watery
loo. It seems that the high spirit Amra, a kind of assistant God, ap-
pointed to be the judge of Napoleon, was very apologetic to him. He
called at his mansion soon after his passing and paid his compliments,
both to Napoleon and to Josephine. Napoleon was very curt with his
judges. He said, on the authority of Amra himself, backed by the
King’s Counsel and the two mediumistic daughters, “ Now do not let
us be long. I had rather be a short time and be sent to Hell than be
dragging on for ages." To which Amra gently replied, “ My dear son,
you will not go to Hell, I think, so do not let us speak like that."
When the judges were ready with their “ report ” to the Higher
Powers Napoleon appeared in full uniform while they were in robes
of semi-Grecian style. The judgment was that he had only a little
purgatory to go through, and then he could throw himself into the
affairs proceeding apace on earth to his heart’s content. On hearing the
judgment Napoleon was unmoved, but gracious. He said, “ Well, I
thank you very much, messeurs, later on, perhaps you will visit me;
the Empress and I will be very pleased to see you.” “ I am straight
myself and expect others to be.”
When Amra accepted the invitation so extended he found him in
purgatory, but he said, “ This is Heaven to St. Helena.”
There is imagination in this, and no doubt people who like this kind
of imagination will like it very much.
In the introduction the author summarizes the teaching of the mes-
sages regarding the condition and habits of the future life. Other
particulars may be inferred by the casual reader of the messages.
Among these we note that the spirits eat. drink and sleep in beds very
much as they did in this life, that they live among plants and animals
like ours, that they have matrimonial partners and also soul-mates, that
high spirits tell white lies for the sake of politeness, and that they
worship images.
Is it not time for the spiritual communicators, for the sake of their
Book Reviews.
399
own regulations, as well as the progress of the art, to get together and
fight out the questions of what they are and where and how they live,
and not waste our time with so many conflicting messages? Some
efficiency expert, who is a real truth lover, seems to be very much
needed over there to co-ordinate their activity and codify their teach-
ing.— Geo. H. Johnson.
Psychical Miscellanea: Being Papers on Psychical Research, Telepathy,
Hypnotism, Christian Science, etc . By J. Arthur Hill, N. Y., 1920.
Pp. 1 18.
This is one of the best of Mr. Hill’s works. It is the sort of book
to put into the hands of a beginner in psychical studies who would be
stimulated thereby to pursue a course of wider reading. Mr. Hill has
managed in the compass of a few pages to convey a good idea of the
aims and hopes of psychical research, and although at times he appears
to us to be rather too sanguine, the book in general preserves a re-
markable atmosphere of forbearance and moderation. In the first article
Mr. Hill deals with the subject of death, and expresses the opinion
that only keenly sensitive natures cherish a strong desire for the ces-
sation of individual consciousness. He instances the case of J. A.
Symonds (who had no desire for an existence beyond the grave) as
an illustration of what he means. We do not know what was the
reason for J. A. Symond’s point of view. It may have been connected
with that unfortunate trait in his constitution which was then little
understood, and only later received the treatment it deserved at the
hands of men like Freud, Hirschfeld or Ferenczi. But we do not be-
lieve that it is only those with sensitive natures who are appalled at
the prospect of a continuity of personality. We believe that such a
feeling is far more widespread than is generally supposed. It occurs
especially amongst the cultured classes of the younger generation and
is better known in Europe than in the United States.
The feeling of world sorrow for which the Russians use the term
toska and which Hardy has introduced into so many of his novels,
springs from a realization of the essential badness of human existence,
and may result in either a desire for a better life or final extinction
at the end of this one. Mr. Hill's hopes are of the former class. After
death he surmises that we arc “ promoted,” that our interests and ac-
tivities become wider and our joys greater. It must, we think, be under-
stood that these suggestions are Mr. Hill's and that psychical research
presents little proof for any one of them. They may be what some
of us wish but that is no reason for supposing that they actually are so.
A good many serious students (and Mr. Hill is among them) now af-
firm that they know that the survival of human personality is true in
the same sense that they know that Avogadro's law is true. On the
other hand the more cautious observers would not go so far as to say
that they know the conditions of that survival. Our knowledge must
be derived from evidence which can be verified and we cannot verify
conditions upon the "other side” in the same way as we can verify
statements from alleged spirits concerning earthly affairs. Mr. Hill
has attempted to make this clear in his second article, and he suggests
that if the identity of a “ spirit ” can be tested through the communica-
400 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
tion of details which can be verified, " we may perhaps feel fairly safe"
in accepting descriptions of spiritual surroundings. We do not believe
it. As Mr. Hill himself points out, language has grown up as the need
for expressing sense data became apparent, and it is fairly obvious
that the descriptions of the spiritual world can be of very little value
for scientific purposes. Possibly intimations of mental states might be
considered as worthy of more attention, but the whole series of " revela-
tions” are not capable of any sort of scientific proof. Moreover, there
is, as far as we can see, no reason to suppose as Mr. Hill does, that
the life after death is in any degree any more satisfying or less full
of misery than the present one. If, as the author of this book sup-
poses, our “ joys are greater," then what reason have we to suppose
that our pains may not also be more acute? We confess that we have
found no answer to this question, and Mr. Hill does not attempt to sup-
ply one.
It is impossible to deal fully with each article in this volume. The
chapter on psychical research is excellent, and we would recommend
students to read the well balanced and shrewd criticism of Christian
Science. In spite of many physical disabilities Mr. Hill has managed
in his quiet way to make a fair number of experiments for himself,
and many of his results are embodied in this volume, which deserves
a wide circulation among the more thoughtful and less widely read
inquiries into the problems of psychical research. — E. J. Dingwali,.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, London,
England.
Rt. Hon. Gerald W. Balfour,
Woking. England.
Prof. Sir Wm. F. Barrett, London,
England.
•Viscount James Bryce, Forest
Row, England.
•Sir WiLLtAM Crookes, London,
England.
Dr. Charles L. Dana, New York.
Prof. Max Dessoir, Berlin, Germany.
Prof. George Dumas, Paris, France.
Camille Flam marion, Juvisy, France.
•Prof. Th. Flournoy, Geneva, Swit-
zerland.
Prof. Sigmund Freud, Vienna,
Austria.
Prof. Pierre Janet, Paris, France.
Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chancellor
Stanford University, Cal.
Prof. C. G. Junc, Kussnach, Switzer-
land.
Sir Oliver J. Lodge, Birmingham,
England.
Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Paris, France.
Prop. William McDougall, Oxford
University, England.
Dr. Frederick Peterson, New York.
Dr. Morton Prince, Boston, Mass.
•Lord Rayleigh, Witham, England.
Prof. Charles Richet, Paris, France.
Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
Prof. Freiherr Von Scrrenck-
Notzing, Munich, Germany.
Dr. Boris Sidis, Portsmouth, N. H.
Mr. C. J. Wilson, Dublin, Ireland.
HONORARY MEMBERS
Prof. H. Beaunis, Le Cannet, France.
Prof. Edouard Claparede, Geneva,
Switzerland.
Cesar de Vesme, Paris, France.
Hon. Everard Feilding, London,
England.
Camille Flam Marion, Juvisy, France.
Prof. A. For el, Yvome, Switzerland.
Prof. J. Grasset, Montpelier, France.
Dr. Paul Joire, Beauvais, France.
Dr. P. L. Lada me, Geneva, Switzer-
land.
Prof. Albert Moll, Berlin. Germany.
Prof. Enrico Morseijli, Genoa, Italy.
•Prof. J. Ochorovics, Warsaw,
Russia.
Mr. J. G. Piddington, Woking, Eng-
land.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D„ New York.
Dr. Bonjour de Rachewsky, Lau-
sanne, Switzerland.
•Mr. A. P. Sinnett, London, Eng-
land.
HONORARY ASSOCIATE
Dr. Sydney Alrutz, Upsala. Sweden.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
PRor. A C. Armstrong, Middletown, Prof. John Dewey, Columbia Uni-
Conn. versity. New York City.
Dr. G. V. N. Dearborn, Cambridge, Prof. J. Gibson Hume, Toronto,
Mass. Canada
Prof. Adolf Meyer, M. D., Baltimore, Md.
Dtc«*»«d.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
*
The American Institute for Scientific Research was incorporated under
the Laws of New York in 1904, for the purpose of carrying on and endow*
tag investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-then*
peutics. The American Society for Psychical Research is a Section of
this Corpontion and is supported by contributions from its members and
an endowment fund which now exceeds $185,000. The amount only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Institute
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Institute is perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth In
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Institute, whether to the uses of psychical research or psycho-
therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The form which such dedication
should take when made by will is indicated in the following condensed
draft.
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR TIIE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Institute for Scientific
Research, a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, the sum
of dollars,* in trust, however, to administer the same for
the benefit of the American Society for Psychical Research,t a branch of
said corporation, and for its purposes only.”
* In cue the bequest i* real estate, or other epecific Items of property, they should be
sufficiently described for Identification. -
t In eaee the donor desiree the fundi uacd for Piycho-therapeutiee thie ehould read .
" in trait, however, for the benefit' of ita branch for the investigation of Psycho,
therapeutic* and for euch purposes only."
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. August, 1922
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT :
A New Department .
New Contributor .
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Problems and Methods. By J. H. Hyslop and W. F. Prince
Notes From Periodicals. By Miss L. N. .
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena Near
Antigonish. By Walter F. Prince 422
“A Case of Fraud With the Crewe Circle” .... 442
INCIDENTS:
Coincidental Experiences. Reported by Mrs. A. P. “Niles” . 448
Experiences of Miss Clarke. Reported by Helen J. Clarke . 457
Miscellaneous Coincidences. Reported by Helen J. Clarke . 460
BOOK REVIEW:
Studies in Contemporary Metaphysics (R. F. Hocrnlfe); The
Living Jesus (Frederick A. Wiggin) ..... 462
Published monthly by the A. S, P. R. $5 Annually. Abroad £ 1. Is. 50 cents a copy.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 23rd St., New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company, York, Pa., to which send changes of address.
Entered ns second-class matter, July 19, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March 3, 1870. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for
in Section 11G3, Act of October 3, 1917, authorised April £7, 1922.
PACE
401
401
402
416
No. 8
iOOQ
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc., M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio. Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coovct, M.A., Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gace, LL.D., San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner. A.M, Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D., University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt. LL.D., F.A.A.S., New
York, N, Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S., LL.B.,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson. M.D., LL.D., New
York. N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LL.D, Boston.
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D., Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pufin, Ph.D, LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood. LLD, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D., Ph.D, Bos-
ton. Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt.
*
Weston D. Bayley. M.D. George H. Hyslop. M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D. Lawson Purdy.
Miles M. Dawson.
VOLUME XVI— No. 8
AUGUST, 192*
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Pao*
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT 401
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Problem! and Methods. By J. H.
Byslop and W. P. Prince , . 404
Note* Prom Periodicals . . , 410
An Investigation of Poltergeist and
Other Phenomena Near Antigonish.
By Waiter P. Prince 444
“A Case of Praod With the Crewe
Circle'' ...... 444
INCIDENTS: 448
BOOK REVIEWS .... 404
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer's true name
la withheld, it is preserved on file, and is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
A New Department.
Herein begins a department which it is hoped to make perma-
nent. It is intended to give readers information regarding the
chief current periodical literature of psychical research. We
regret that the talented lady whose reserve conceals her under the
initials " L. N.” cannot find time to continue it, but are glad to
announce that it will be conducted by Dr. George H. Johnson,
whose able book reviews are already familiar.
With the same object in view an occasional short article deal-
ing with discussions and experiments on the continent of Europe,
which our readers should desire to know about, will be translated
for the Journal.
New Contributor.
Mr. Marc Denkinger pursued classical and historical studies
at the University of Geneva; licencie is lettres (1918). He has
been studying experimental psychology in the United States.
Formerly a teacher in France and England, he was late instructor
in French and advanced Latin in St. Albans School, Illinois, and
next fall begins his duties as instructor in Brown University.
402 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
PROBLEMS AND METHODS.
By J. H. Hyssop and W. F. Prince.
In April, 1909, the Journal contained an article by Dr. Hyslop
entitled “ The Problem of Psychic Research.” It may be that not
so large a number of our readers need its instruction now as
then, but there are still plenty who might profit thereby. There-
fore we reprint it below, and suggest that every word of it be
read and pondered :
There is in the public, and even among many of our members,
a misconception of the work which is before the Society, and it
may be necessary now and then to call attention to it for various
reasons. A remark of one of the most patient and devoted of our
members was the incitement to write this paper, tho I have had
the same view taken by other members. Indeed some members
have resigned because they have insisted upon a view of the work
which shows an entire misapprehension of its nature and object.
One member resigned because we did not publish something new
in every number of the Journal! Another who had to deliver
some lectures before a group that did not believe in the existence
of spirits and wanted matter to present to them thought we ought
not to publish material that even had a spiritistic suggestion.
Others get angry because we do not make a propagandism of that
creed. All of these alike totally misconceive our work and object,
and we shall find it necessary from time to time to reiterate and
explain our object as a Society.
Owing to the character of the publications both by the F.nglish
Society and our own in recent years the issue of a life after death
has been foremost and unavoidable, and many people, in their
interest and impatience, want that matter settled, in great haste.
They clamor for material upon it and forget two important limi-
tations on such work. These are the rights of those who are not
ready to be hurried in such a matter and the nature of the evi-
dence in support of such a view, to say nothing of misunderstand-
ing the very nature of the Society. Individuals may express their
opinions when done critically and without any desire for making
the publications ridiculous to the scientific mind. But it is easy
Problems and Methods.
403
to forget that the object of the Society is not to prove any pre-
conceived theory of things. It may find itself forced to accept a
theory, but it does not predetermine a view which it will seek to
prove. Hence even a future life must take the second place in the
work of the Society. The interest of people generally in explana-
tions rather than facts tempts them to always ask for the removal
of their perplexities regarding alleged phenomena, but it is only
unscientific impatience that persistently asks for theories and ex-
planations where the collective evidence is not sufficient to estab-
lish any special claims. While most of the facts published in the
Journal and Proceedings have a spiritistic coloring this has been
unavoidable because that is about the only type of fact that the
investigators have been able to find. We cannot publish or be
expected to publish what we cannot find, desirous as we may be
to find material opposed to the apparent trend of what we do find.
Hence, tho the work seems to suggest a tendency in one direction,
the real object of the work lies concealed and does not appear on
the surface.
The fact is that the object of the Society is not to prove any
special theory of phenomena whatever. It is a body for the col-
lection of facts in various fields of the unusual. It does not even
predetermine that the facts shall be supernormal. Its only or first
desire is to record and preserve human experiences, be they what
they may. All history has shown us that sporadic and unusual
facts are lost unless recorded. When alleged they have to be sub-
mitted to investigation for ascertaining whether they are credible
as actual experiences and then as unusual ones. They may be
chance coincidences and they may be interesting illusions or hal-
lucinations, the discovery and natural explanation of which may
serve as a protection against the assertion of beliefs affecting the
social organism. In a democratic civilization the body politic is
profoundly influenced by facts, or alleged facts, which have not
submitted themselves to intelligent scrutiny, and hence regardless
of interpretation it is always important in such forms of society
to have those in authority — and today this authority is the scien-
tific mind rather than the priest — determine what is acceptable
and what not. Often the prejudices of even this authority need
to be offset, as they are especially stupid in many cases, and the
common mind comes in as the preservative of plain sense. But on
the whole it is the dispassionate scientific man who serves as the
best guide of men’s thoughts. Hence the work of this Society
must appeal to that truth-loving class which wishes to discrim-
inate between the false and the true as its first task. And in doing
404 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
so it need not insist that its standard of truth shall be more than
to determine that the reporter of experiences believes he is telling
what seems to be genuine to him. Actual lying is the first diffi-
culty to be removed in any alleged fact, and when that suspicion
is discredited we begin to arrive at something that may be of in-
terest, regardless of its meaning. Unusual experiences, there-
fore, whether real or imaginary, are the material of our investi-
gations. Hitherto they have perished for want of scientific notice
and the Society is organized to collect and certify those which are
worth preserving, whatever interpretation and explanation they
may have.
In the pursuit of this object it will often be found that stories
do not seem to prove a special theory in which readers may be in-
terested. But it will be a mistake if we suppose that the primary
object is to prove such. The primary aim is to ascertain all sorts
of credible facts, whether interpreted as illusions or as evidence
of the supernormal, and readers must be left largely to the for-
mation of their own opinions. The consequence is that we must
often investigate and publish detailed records which may contain
but one incident of scientific interest. As a scientific Society, or
one trying to be scientific, we have no liberties regarding certain
records. If we selected the evidential and important incidents for
notice, our critics would ask what the non-evidentia! matter is,
and if they found it bore such a proportion to the evidential as
might make the latter appear very different from what it does
alone, they would have the right to discredit our work. But they
cannot abuse us if we supply them with the very material for the
criticism of views which we think obtain. The scientific critic
has a right to every detail of our records that seems worthy of
notice at all. Hence often we shall supply cases that may exhibit
but one characteristic of importance. It is not necessarily evi-
dence of the supernormal that must interest, but facts that show
its complications and limitations. Science is as much concerned
in understanding phenomena as in proving a special theory. In
fact, it will always insist on making a theory intelligible as the
first condition of accepting it, or if not in accepting it as an
hypothesis, certainly as the condition of assuring ourselves of its
defensible character. We cannot understand any theory until we
ascertain its associations, and in this field of investigations it
often occurs that the phenomena which best serve to throw light
upon the supernormal and the limitations under which it occurs
are not evidential at all. The perplexity for the scientific man
begins when he finds facts which he cannot articulate with exist-
Problems and Methods.
405
ing knowledge. But if he finds those borderland cases which in-
terfuse the supernormal and the normal, the evidential and the
non-evidential, he will begin to discover intelligible causes and
explanations. It must therefore be one of the most important
features of our task to collect all sorts of human experiences
bordering on the supernormal and that will help to explain the
conditions under which it occurs and so limit its occurrence.
In the pursuit of this work there is only one discriminative
liberty that we can allow ourselves. We cannot use material that
does not promise, at present, to illustrate a point of psychological
interest. Such cases may be preserved until their use is service-
able, and that is quite as much the task of the Society as publish-
ing matter for present information. We may often have to dis-
regard for the time incidents that seem to others quite striking or
important, but which seem commonplace to the scientific man.
But any fact that promises to throw light upon some obscure
aspect of the supernormal is worth recording, and can be givpn its
place in the whole, whatever prolixity of detail may be found in
association with it. The most important thing, however, is to
present those which are more clearly evidential of the unusual,
and those that are less so will come in some day as corroborative
evidence, and to supply quantity where quality of matter could
not be had.
Let me then summarize the features which make up the object
of this Society and so constitute its problem. They are all parts
of one complex plan.
(1) To collect and preserve against loss all types of human
experience that are unusual.*
(2) To subordinate explanation to the presentation of facts
and so to leave to others the duty of forming conclusions, tho
reserving the rights of criticism and analysis, or even the admis-
sion of possible hypotheses.
(3) To publish all the details of records regardless of what
they prove or disprove, having in mind only their importance for
understanding the whole group of phenomena claiming to illus-
trate the supernormal.
(4) To emphasize the accidents and associations of various
phenomena in borderland cases and all types of unusual experi-
ences that may help to explain the nature and limitations of the
supernormal.
* That is, all unusual types coming within the special field of the So-
ciety.— Ed.
406 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
It will be seen that this representation of our problem necessi-
tates attention to many incidents which may seem, of themselves,
to have no importance and to have no evidential value whatever
for the supernormal. All the associated incidents of phenomena
should be observed as probably throwing light upon their causes
and limitations. We cannot select our facts. They are selected
for us, and we cannot exclude from observation and consideration
anything that is a part of the whole which we are investigating.
Besides we have to collect for a long period of time sufficient data
to justify theoretical considerations. Each individual incident
may have little or no value. But of this again. The important
thing to emphasize at present is the value of remarking little inci-
dents which may not seem striking to the layman, but which rep-
resent one of those analyses of nature which enables us to separate
an incident from the explanation which might seem to serve in
all other cases. Moreover it is the only way to ascertain just what
complexity a group of phenomena may have. For instance, why
should we pick out the telepathic phenomena of any special case
and ignore the clairvoyant or premonitory? Of course, if we are
engaged in converting some stupid sceptic we may well select our
evidence to suit his prejudices. But in the purely scientific task
we do not require to regard sceptical stupidity, but to have an eye
single to our problem. This is to treat our phenomena as wholes.
If we selected the telepathic phenomena only and ignored the
others we should be justly reproachable for neglecting the true
scientific state of the case. It is the whole that we have to explain,
while propagandism has the object of selecting facts and convert-
ing the sceptic who should be left to his own work.*
* It is and will continue to be true that a concrete group of phenomena
must be treated as a whole. But this does not mean that a large group must
necessarily be printed without abridgment. The whole group must be studied
by the person who presents it to the public, and preserved in accessible form
for the study of others. For a long time this Society continued actually to
print long series, for example, of experiments in automatic writing, abso-
lutely unabridged, even tho whole sittings contained nothing evidential or
illuminating in the existing stage of research. It is well that this was done.
But now that a considerable body of unabridged matter has been published
which still furnishes material for the study of wholes to the very few eager
enough to undertake it, and now that the methodology of the Society has been
amply illustrated, it seems proper and expedient to omit portions of a series
from the printed report, provided that the omitted parts have no power to
add to, detract from or modify the evidential implications of what remains,
and providing the reader is given a brief description of what is omitted. It is
Problems and Methods.
407
Moreover in dealing with phenomena as wholes we have often
to emphasize some little incident, or at least give it notice and
preservation, when it does not seem to be of importance by itself.
This illustrates the collective side of our task. Many incidents
by themselves have no importance whatever, at least at the outset
of our work. Taken by themselves they would seem to be the
result of chance. But taken in connection with evidential phenom-
ena or in connection with phenomena that are typical in spite of
their non-evidential character, they may have great value at some
future time in explaining some special hypothesis. Consequently
certain incidents will lie in our records until an accumulation of
facts has been made that is large enough to justify theoretical dis-
cussion. Some incidents of this kind have already been published
and no comments made on their significance, because we are not
yet ready to raise certain issues. Let me illustrate by one in-
stance. Last year we published the entire group of experiences
by Mrs. Quentin, not merely because they were articulated and
associated in the same person, but because the significance of
certain incidents in the whole would have been entirely lost had
they been given a separate notice. Take the dream of Mrs.
Quentin’s daughter about the ancestral home ( Journal , Vol. II,
p. 406). This was identical with Mrs. Quentin's dream about the
same place and had the appearance of being a possible telepathic
effect of Mrs. Quentin’s mind on the daughter’s, according to the
views of some who might desire to press that explanation. But
it would have been scientifically criminal to suppress the fact that
this circumstance was associated with the facts that the deceased
mother of Mrs. Quentin, grandmother of the daughter, was not
only passionately fond in life of that home and wanted it kept in
the family, but was also the apparent control of Mrs. Quentin in
the automatic writing. I say nothing more than to hint the rela-
tion of the same fact to doctrines of reincarnation.
All this shows the importance of dealing with phenomena as
wholes. Often, however, those wholes are not found in individ-
ual cases. We have to accumulate instances which are really frag-
mentary, but whose fragmentary character is not discoverable
until a large number of them show incidents that are not com-
mon. A collective mass of cases will often resemble an individ-
true that what seems not worth while to spread before readers now may at a
later stage take on meaning and significance But the discovery will probably
be made by special students, and to such the full records in the archives of the
A. S. P. R. will always be accessible. — Ed.
408 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ual case that forms an organic whole of a variety of phenomena.
For instance, the case of Mrs. Piper exhibits many types of phe-
nomena. There are clairvoyant incidents in the case on record.
There are those representing premonition or prediction, some
showing the diagnosis of disease, some illustrating spiritual ad-
vice and philosophic doctrines about the nature of things, and all
constituting an organic whole. But the usual case is fragmentary,
showing only one aspect of such phenomena, and hence the ac-
cumulation of different instances will show a collective whole that
will resemble the more complex cases. In the meantime we can
only be patient and select such instances as show various features
of that collective mass. Some will contain a number of evidential
instances and some very few. Perhaps some will not have any
evidence of the supernormal at all. But whether containing it or
not they will exhibit adjuncts of greater or less value to the scien-
tific study of the phenomena and that must be supposed to throw
light upon obscure aspects in the problem.
Let me illustrate again the last remark. The case published
in the Journal for December, 1908, had only a few instances of
evidential matter, but it had what was perhaps more valuable than
evidential incidents. The most important point was the illustra-
tion of the sudden development of automatic phenomena in re-
sponse to a moral need and where no previous thought had been
given to the subject. The usual incidents seemed to spring into
existence full grown, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter. No
prolonged development seemed necessary. Then came the im-
portant circumstance of apparently deceiving influences, resem-
bling a previously published case wholly unconnected with this
one. ( Journal , Vol. 1, p. 382.) These two facts alone were suf-
ficient to call attention to the case. Then fortunately there was
connected with it, and in something like cross reference, a pre-
diction or premonition which, if it had been fulfilled, would have
been interpreted as due to suggestion. The influences and the
situation for the operation of suggestion as a supposed cause were
very strong. But it did not act. The subject was anxious, in-
tensely desirous, to have the event occur, and if expectation, hope,
or suggestion ever had any reason to act they had them in this
instance. But there was not the slightest effect. The boasted
suggestion that plays so important a part in the speculations of
certain types of mind here seemed as powerless and ineffective as
the most ignominious of causal agencies. The case was worth
notice if only for that fact alone.
Another incident illustrated an important point. It was the
Problems and Methods.
409
case of the raps coincident with the death of a young man ( Jour-
nal, Vol. II, pp. 644-649). The peculiar interest of this incident
lay in the fact that the coincidence did not seem to have been in-
stigated by the dying consciousness of the young man. The phe-
nomena had all the characteristics of apparitions coincident with
dying persons except the facts that the circumstance establishing
the coincidence was raps and a previous and independent arrange-
ment on the part of friends through automatic writing to be
awakened at the proper time to be at the bedside of the dying
man. No one at his bedside had been apprised of the intention
and the coincidence apparently involved a knowledge of the man’s
dying condition and the fulfillment of an agreement unknown to
the dying man. That complication makes every form of telepathy
in the coincidence seem either absurd or so difficult of comprehen-
sion as to debar its claims. At least it would seem so to intelli-
gent people, whatever standing such an hypothesis might obtain
with the imagination.
To accumulate instances of this kind, or of the kind which
present unusual features illustrative of important aspects of our
problem, will be a slow task. There may be very many of them
illustrating more common aspects of it, and they will have to
serve as multiplying the instances which supply the second cri-
terion of scientific method, namely, quantity of facts, which will
indicate that the phenomena represent a law of familiarity in
nature. But the more unusual incidents which help to analyze
the phenomena and to clarify obscure features of it will require a
long time to accumulate, and in the meantime we can only pa-
tiently await their collection by tolerating the publication of inci-
dents that apparently have no evidential significance whatever.
It took Mr. Darwin many years to collect the evidence for
evolution, and he had the advantage of the recorded observations
of many persons who had not discovered the meaning of the facts
that had interested their attention. Thirty years were spent in
collecting the facts which illustrated and proved the doctrine of
natural selection and thirty years more have been spent in ac-
cumulating facts to determine its nature and limitations. Psychic
research labors under difficulties that never affected evolution and
these are the far more sporadic nature of the facts that can serve
as evidence in the present stage of the problem. The phenomena
are probably numerous enough, but the circumstances that would
make them scientifically significant to the obstinate scepticism of
most men seem not so often to be present, and hence the work of
accumulating evidential facts is slow and difficult. It makes a
410 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
cause which cannot attain its end at once. A missionary spirit
for many years is necessary and a patience commensurate with
the complexity and infrequency of the facts to be collected. No
detail can be omitted from the record. Much that appears tedious
and irrelevant will have to be given in the records. The scientific
man will allow no omissions that might be used either for scepti-
cism or proof. The advocate of an hypothesis in the present state
of the investigation cannot be the one to sift and select the facts.
He must be a passive and impartial reporter, and he must not be
in haste to defend his theories. He may have faith in his cause,
but he cannot deceive the sceptic into any belief of either his facts
or hypotheses until the severest scientific method has been satisfied.
Our problem, therefore, is primarily the collection of facts
and not the proof or defense of hypotheses. They come after
the discovery of the facts and are a consequence of them. No
doubt many individuals feel that they cannot wait for the slow
and patient methods of science, but as our object is to influence
the inert and biased type of mind we must exhibit patience com-
mensurate with the task or give it up. It required physical
science two hundred and fifty years simply to prepare for the last
fifty years’ work, and physical science has infinitely larger ad-
vantages than psychic research ever had or can be expected to
have until a differently endowed human race has been evolved.
Astronomy had to take time to prove the existence of meteors and
physics was slow to admit the travelling ball of electricity.
Psychic research may be far longer establishing the simplest of
its claims or possibilities. Haste is not possible.
It is hoped that the above will be considered well, for many
are still under the misapprehensions stated by Dr. Hyslop as to
what the attitude and policy of the Journal should be. One
wishes it to be occupied almost solely with the question of sur-
vival and to print only what seems evidence in its favor, another
is pained by any intimation that a particular case yields to the
spiritistic solution with more parsimony and better logic than to
any other. One reproaches us for printing so much destructive
criticism of fraud and self-deception, another wishes that we
would clear away that obstructing brushwood of psychical re-
search faster. This man thinks it a disgrace to print the best
single case of evidence for spirit photography which has been
brought to attention, while that (not the reporter of the case) is
Problems and Methods.
411
convinced that it is pig-headed intolerance which prevents us from
accepting that case as conclusive and final proof. Here is im-
patience because statements of facts are not accompanied by a
cut-and-dried theory which “ explains ” everything, and there is
sorrow because even alternative hypotheses are discussed fairly.
We are told that " many members ” are complaining because of
a certain thing, and also that “ many members ” are dissatisfied
because of the exact opposite.
It is quite natural for one who has himself come to a con-
clusion to feel that the hesitancy of others is excessive and due
to prejudice or dullness of intellect. But more real progress is
achieved by paving the road inch by inch than by rushing onward
into quagmires.
It is quite natural, also, for one who has had no experience
with a certain class of facts of a seemingly revolutionary char-
acter to feel that another, who has had such experience which he
has carefully studied and reported, must be credulous to treat the
evidence as worthy of respect. But we are in the field to study
facts and claims, and it would be a queer procedure to start with
a posture of uncompromising intolerance toward certain of the
classes, and to refuse to pay attention to or justly weigh certain
other classes of facts.
It is likewise natural for one who has taken a fancy to a par-
ticular claim and class of phenomena to wish that these should
constantly be put forward. But there are twenty other classes of
phenomena and alternative theories which also have their rights.
In their bearing upon human life the hypothesis of survival and
the evidence supporting it are supremely important, but scientifi-
cally the solution of the problem of simple rapping sounds for
which no normal cause has yet been found is exactly as important.
This and many another species of puzzling facts and claims, desig-
nated as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychometry, dowsing, etc., be-
long to the category which we are bound to consider.
The writer on assuming the editorship of the Society’s publi-
cations, adopted a set of principles (See Journal for January,
1922, pages 2-4) from which he does not expect to swerve. One
of these is as follows: “ There is danger in confining our atten-
tion too much to the spiritistic, that of becoming narrow and
biased in judgment. And even from the standpoint of those who
412 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
are personally convinced of survival, there might be advantage in
giving for a time more attention to borderland phenomena, which
may possibly be related to the matters which they prefer, and
throw light on these."
Not long after the report on the Keeler " spirit ” photographs
was published in the Proceedings, a valued correspondent remon-
strated at taking up so much space with “ merely destructive mat-
ter.” Unless he has seen a new light, we shall get another letter
from him when he sees, in the next Proceedings, the long de-
structive study of nineteen American slate-writing mediums. But
does he not realize that two-thirds of the people who feel disgust
for the whole field of psychical phenomena are moved to it by
the existence of rampant frauds, and that multitudes know no
better than that it is these which psychical researchers are mainly
engaged in studying respectfully? We must teach the public
what manner of men we are, we must teach it to discriminate
between the false and the true, we must give it the information
by which it will be armed against imposition. Now and then a
destructive piece of work must be done, and when done it should
be done so effectually that henceforth for any intelligent reader
the air is cleared in that quarter.
If the Journal is to help to enlist a group of able and qualified
men and women in the prosecution of psychical research it must
be by a cautious, fair, open-minded, non-faddist, scientific spirit.
But to be scientific it is not necessary that all our writers shall
employ the jargon of the laboratory. And while the wings of
speculation must be clipped short, it ought to be permissible now
and then to theorize tentatively a little beyond the rigid warrant
of determined facts. The greatest masters in physical science,
such as Tyndall and Huxley, occasionally allowed themselves a
similar excursus.
With the same object in view, we have judged it well to print
articles dealing with, and illustrating, the different phases of the
critical method, both in preparation and in examination of
material. “A Little Lesson in Reporting" (April, 1922),
“An Object Lesson in Reporting” (October, 1921), “Analysis
of the Results of an Old Questionnaire” (April, 1921), “Be
Sure of Your Dates " (November, 1919), “ Indicia of Fraud in
a Document " ( August, 1919), and “ A Sceptical Sitter " (June,
Problems and Methods.
413
1918), are examples. There will soon be printed a study of a
certain unnamed medium’s deliverances which have impressed a
number of intellectual people as highly evidential and yet which,
so far as there are records in hand, yield to a normal explanation.
Many will read it and think, “ The medium is evidently a fraud,
and, that being the case and the man unknown to us, it is a waste
of paper to print it.” But this will be entirely to miss the point
and value of the article, which will not prove, nor even charge
fraud. The point and value consist in the series of contrasts
which are found between this type of material and the work of
Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Chenoweth, Mrs. Leonard and others. If
Medium X did not either consciously or in states of altered per-
sonality acquire normal information in ways which we shall
specify then we have the riddle why there is a whole complex of
correspondences with what would have been the appearances if
he had. And in any case we have the striking contrasts in the
work of Piper, Chenoweth, Leonard, Smead, etc., which do not
yield to any such attempt at solution.
Again, Dr. Hyslop found readers, and there will yet be such,
who suppose, in spite of all effort to make the point plain, that
a particular incident is published as an illustration of the pur-
ported supernormal, and so form a poor opinion of it, when it is
really printed to exhibit the subconscious mechanisms. Even
those most eager for purported spirit communications should
have interest, because if spirits give messages they do so through
the subconscious and by manipulation, so to speak, of its mechan-
isms. All the information we can get about the subconscious, its
powers and its processes, therefore, is invaluable in helping us
on our way to ultimate conclusions, whether these are in, or far
removed from, the spiritistic quarter.
So also some readers probably supposed (as one certainly did)
that the story told with such scientific courage by Dr. Carter in
the issues of June and July, 1921, was printed with special refer-
ence to the question whether or not valid ghosts appeared by
night in the region of Lancaster, Ohio. Such, perceiving that
the ghosts were evidently spurious, of course thought that the
fact might have been sufficiently demonstrated in a tenth of the
space, and therefore that the rest was mere waste. But that was
not the intention of the paper at all, as should have been evident
414 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research .
from its title, “ A Lesson in the Psychology of Deception.” The
object was to exhibit, stage by stage, the preparation and the
progress by which a more than commonly alert and skeptical
mind was led by suggestion and auto-suggestion into a maze of
illusion, as the majority of people under the same circumstances
would have been and from which only a minority would have as
successfully and speedily have delivered themselves. From this
point of view the article is a psychological panorama of value and
almost unique. It is of value because it is important to know
the possibilities and the limitations of illusion and deception. We
discover that there are classes of phenomena, such as alleged ma-
terialization, spirit photography, trumpet performances and slate-
writing, in which the same vitiating elements may affect wit-
nesses and against which they must be educated so as to be upon
their guard, and about which readers of testimony which does not
show sufficient awareness of them must likewise be warned.
And we likewise note that there are other classes of phenomena,
such as psychometry, automatic “ communications,” scrying, etc.,
when formal and easy rules are followed, into which the same
vitiating liabilities do not enter, at least in any resembling degree.
If, for example, a person has a vision and immediately tells it to
several unimpeachable witnesses, records it and has the record
witnessed, and afterward the vision is provably fulfilled, it
makes no difference whether he was scared, or asleep and dream-
ing, or sick or even insane at the time of the vision, for no sup-
posable psychological factor explains the correspondences between
the prior vision and the event. Chance coincidence may be in-
voked, but that is quite another matter.
It is easy to criticise, and no editorial management could wel-
come criticism more sincerely than that of the Journal, which
only deplores (1) that the criticism which actually reaches it is,
after all. so scanty, though it is sometimes alleged that “ many
members ” are dissatisfied with something or other, (2) that so
little criticism which reaches its mark is specific and constructive,
and (3) that so large a proportion of that is based either upon
failure to realize the comprehensive scope of subject matter which
the Society was founded to examine and the scientific method-
ology to which it is bound, or else upon actual error as to fact,
which a little more pains in reading would have avoided.
Problems and Methods.
415
One of our most able and esteemed friends, a valued friend of
the Society, wrote twice regretting that instead of the “ short
article ” on a certain interesting matter, the Journal could not
have had the “ far fuller ” and “ far better statement ” by the
same writer in the periodical entitled Light, “ long though that
article is,” and urged us to secure a similar statement, or at least
give the Journal readers “ a succinct resume ” of the account as
given in the London organ. The actual fact was that Light had
reprinted the article from the Journal, sentence by sentence, except
that it omitted the final half page !
The following statement has been issued by the American
Society from its foundation :
It is desired that we should have as large a membership as
possible. There are two objects to be accomplished by such a
membership. The first is the financial support of the work until
it can command an adequate endowment. The second is the in-
crease of facilities for collecting data for scientific records. On
this account it is desirable that members should regard their con-
nection with the Society as in the nature of supporting contrib-
utors. The Society does not exist merely for the satisfaction of
personal tastes and opinions, but for the collection and recording
of facts whose significance may not be fully known until long
after our time.
It is hoped that all members remain in sympathy with this
declaration, and also with the breadth of the announcement of
the leading object of the Society, which from the year 1907 has
been announced in these words :
First, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, clairvoyance — including dowsing or the finding of
water or minerals by supernormal means, premonitions, coinci-
dental dreams, all kinds of mediumistic phenomena, and, in fact,
everything of a supernormal character occurring in this field.*
•It should be understood, however, that the word “alleged,’’ in the
quoted paragraph, holds its force to the end of the passage.
416 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
NOTES FROM PERIODICALS.
The leading article in Revue M etapsychique for March and
April, by Sir Oliver Lodge, is entitled “To What Extent is the
Spirit Hypothesis Justified by the Facts: A Reply to Prof.
Richet.”
Sir Oliver Lodge opens his reply with a statement of the
issues in the controversy, set forth with the skill, lucidity and
force so characteristic of all his writings.
Unlike many other biologists, Prof. Richet has formally ac-
cepted most of the phenomena relied on for proof of the “ Spirit-
Hypothesis,” is willing to investigate them to any extent, and has
come to believe “ that these things are true and constitute a new
science, calling it ‘ metapsychics.' ” But he rejects the hypothesis
of survival after death offered in explanation. He is content to
study the phenomena and wait; meanwhile, as a provisional
hypothesis, he attributes what Sir Oliver Lodge calls “ striking
evidence” to supernormal powers, to a sort of omniscient clair-
voyance, to what may be revealed in the trance condition, or to
the subconscious which, with its capacity for revealing things un-
known or long forgotten, “ can utilize sources of information
normally inaccessible.”
But beyond this the French savant declines to go. “ Like
other great biologists,” says Sir Oliver, “ he is influenced by pre-
conceived ideas ; he is imbued with a conviction so profound that
it does not permit him to accept a contrary hypothesis.” And
what do " clairvoyance,” “ the subconscious,” " change of per-
sonality,” and the like mean for Prof. Richet ? “ These,” writes
his critic, “ are words ! words! What do they explain? They are
simply a statement of the facts.”
The physiologists, with whom Prof. Richet is mainly in ac-
cord, decline to regard the brain as the instrument of conscious-
ness and intelligence and treat it as practically identical with
these. Destroy the brain and, according to them, everything dis-
appears. Here Sir Oliver confutes that argument by an appeal to
Notes from Periodicals.
417
the experiences of daily life. The perforated rolls of a pianola
are needed for such an instrument, but they do not constitute its
music. Nor can music be located in the baton of a conductor or
in the instruments of an orchestra. So the black marks on a
sheet of paper which we call a poem are not poetry : they are only
its material incarnation. And so the disc of the phonograph, com-
pletely as it may store up and give forth the speech of a bygone
generation, is not memory. Human memory, intelligence, char-
acter, personality are totally other than mechanical; they belong
to a different order, and simply avail themselves of mechanism as
the means through which to manifest themselves. The theory
that they are identical with the brain is thus held to fall by its
own weight.
And for positive proofs of survival after death Sir Oliver
cites the results of his own investigations. He points to the evi-
dence, known to himself “ by direct experience,” that memory and
personality continue after the body has become dust and ashes,
proving that mind is something other than brain and its physio-
logical processes. He is convinced that the intelligence displayed
by a medium under favorable conditions is not his or her own, but
that of another, as shown by peculiarities of voice, manner and
even of the order of ideas.
This point made by Sir Oliver Lodge is the most conclusive
proof of survival for those who have had similar experiences,
since it constitutes the real and final proof by the conformation
of individual experience with general experience. This procedure
holds equally good for our knowledge of the existence of the
phenomenal world and for our knowledge of spiritistic mani-
festations. “ But,” it may be argued, “ this conformation of in-
dividual and general experience as regards the phenomenal world
holds good because it is universal, which is not the case with
spiritistic manifestations.” To this we would answer that the
pre-requisite for the realization of the spiritistic manifestations is
the possession of the psychical sense, with which not all are en-
dowed, and in the absence of which no amount of intellectual
argument can avail. We might as well try to make those blind or
deaf from birth realize the colors of the rainbow or the sweeping
harmonies of a Beethoven sonata.
A rejoinder from Prof. Richet is promised in the next num-
418 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ber of the Reive Mitapsychique, but in the absence of personal
experience and the psychic sense, are we justified in expecting
anything but words, words?
[Dr. Geley's reply to Prof. Richet will be reprinted in a later
issue of the Journal. — Ed.]
The Revue Mitapsychique contains also an article by Dr.
Geley on “ The London S. P. R.’s Ectoplasm Experiments
with Mile. Eva C.,” in which he stoutly maintains that these sit-
tings were of real interest and value in spite of the following
drawbacks : a defective method, the obsession of the observers by
the idea of fraud, and the noisy and disturbing environment of
the seances. Positive results, notwithstanding, were obtained in
the case of eleven sittings, of which Dr. Geley gives minute re-
ports and which he accompanies with photographs of the medium
showing ectoplasmic materializations in the form of a hand and
small faces. He declares that fraud, including regurgitation,
was physically impossible, and points out as of the highest
significance that the disappearance of the phenomena took place
by the gradual and progressive diminution of their visibility,
which he considers conclusive proof of their authenticity. In
his summing up he says, “ The new documents are a valuable con-
tribution to the study of ectoplasmy. Other things being equal,
they confirm documents presented by Prof. Richet, Mme. Bisson,
Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing, and myself.” Those readers who do
not have access to the French periodical will find a good summary
of this article in Light for May 20 of this year.
" From Subconscious to Conscious. Can Automatic Messages
be Explained?” Mr. E. E. Parker answers affirmatively in the
July number of The Occult Review. He draws a suggestive
parallel between M. fimile Coue’s concentration tests for his
patients undergoing auto-suggestive treatment and the movement
of the glass on the ouija board and automatic writings.
In M. Coue's test a ring is suspended from the end of a pencil
by a thread, the other end of the pencil being held in the hand so
that the ring or pendulum has clear play to move in any direction.
The operator, holding the pencil and hand quite steady, now
mentally desires the ring to move in a certain direction, and in
Notes from Periodicals.
419
the degree to which he is able to concentrate on this, so the ring
moves without any conscious motion of the hand.
Following the analogy of M. Coue’s method which consists in
impressing the subconscious mind of the patient by telepathic
communication from the objective mind, Mr. Parker says : “ I am
also of opinion as a result of my observations of ouija messages
that this subconscious mind can receive impressions or telepathic
communications from the minds of others, either incarnate or dis-
camate, and transmit them through the passive objective mind,
while in a state of one pointed concentration to the hand of the
sitter, which causes the unconscious movement of the glass
through the muscular nerve energy of the hand, as demonstrated
in M. Coue’s pendulum test.”
From this it necessarily follows, as Mr. Parker points out.
that the purity of the messages seems to depend upon the measure
of spirituality of the sitter, for the subconscious mind of an in-
quirer could not transmit messages of high spiritual beauty
through a limited and undeveloped physical brain.
The January number of Psyche contains a brief survey of
“ Recent Work in Psychical Research,” by E. J. Dingwall. In
England, he notes the book tests of Mrs. Leonard, spirit photog-
raphy and the seances of Miss Besinnet ; in the United States, the
work of the American Society in alleged supernormal photog-
raphy; in France, the sittings of Mile. Eva C., still being held in
Paris; also the remarkable results obtained by Dr. Geley with
Franek Kluski, a Polish medium and automatic writer, who pro-
duces extraordinary materializations of human hands, of which
wax impressions reveal “ all the details of bony structure, muscles,
tendons and furrows of the skin"; in Germany, an important
case reported by Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing in the course of his
investigations of hauntings and poltergeists, one a case of the
physical mediumship of a nervous invalid, a Madame Sauerbrey,
who was hypnotized by her step-son and produced phenomena
which ceased when the subject was persuaded by a physician that
she was able to resist the influence.
Another poltergeist case important for the light it throws on
physical mediumship is reported with an analytical survey by Dr.
von Schrenck-Notzing in Psychische Studien for April. The
420 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
manifestations, which occurred in the village of Ylojarvi, Fin-
land, in January, 1885, were remarkable from the fact that they
were made the basis of court proceedings in which a retired
school teacher of 71, his aged wife and a 13-year -old housemaid
were summoned to court on the charge of having practised
sorcery in order to sell liquor to the crowds of curious sightseers
who were attracted to their house by the rumors of ghostly visita-
tions. In court the aged couple denied the charges, declared that
instead of deriving an income as a result of the notoriety they
had lost what little the husband had been able to eke out by
clerical work, and ascribed the mysterious opening and closing of
doors, falling of plaster from the wall, etc., to some supernatural
agency. Fifteen witnesses took oath that the accused could not
have produced the phenomena, as many of the mysterious move-
ments took place before their eyes and were of such a nature as to
preclude the assumption of their having been performed by human
hands. The housemaid did not appear in court, as she was hope-
lessly ill with tuberculosis ; in fact, she died before the verdict was
rendered which set the aged couple free.
In his keen analysis of the case, Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing
classifies the phenomena into those which are relatively simple,
such as the throwing about of books, knives, spoons, chairs, etc.,
those which are more complicated, such as the repeated bursting
open of closed doors, the flinging of writing materials out of a
closed drawer, etc., and those showing a malicious motive such as
the cutting and tearing of books and the tying together of a
sheep’s feet. “ The phenomena in this case,” he says, “ present
many parallels in the literature of the subject: telekinetic per-
formances, the penetration of matter, the introduction of objects
into closed rooms and their ejection from them, and especially the
malicious character of many of the manifestations, and are to be
regarded as identical with manifestations of physical mediumism,
the medium in this case being the thirteen-year-old housemaid,
Emma Lindroos.” And while noting that the mischief-making
motive points especially here, as in many cases of illness, to the
psychopathological complex of hysteria, he concludes that “ the
study and analysis of such cases as this in which the manifesta-
tions exceed the physical capacity of the persons concerned, in
most instances necessitate the conclusion of a supra-normal origin.
Notes from Periodicals.
421
Light for June 3rd features the “ Poltergeist ” case investi-
gated by Dr. Walter Prince. The same periodical for May re-
prints “ Science and a Book Test ” by E. J. Dingwall, from the
Journal of the A. S. P. R., and contains also “ An Evidential
Case of Spirit Photography,” by Allerton S. Cushman, from the
same Journal.
Sincere and touching as the testimony unquestionably is, and
striking as we may find the resemblance, there is one point in
which the evidence fails of being absolutely convincing: the
negatives used at the sitting were the photographer’s own. and
thus might, within possibility, have been subjected to previous
exposure.
How important this matter of the substitution of plates can
be is shown in “ A Case of Fraud with the Crewe Circle,” which
appears in the English Journal for May. In this case, the investi-
gator, posing as an ordinary sitter, brought with him negatives
previously marked by X-ray process with portions of a rampant
lion trade mark. The spirit photographer, Hope, unsuspectingly
consented to use these plates and upon what purported to be one
of them obtained an "extra,” a beautiful woman’s face. Upon
examination the negatives used were clearly proven to be substi-
tutions, since they carried none of the marks of the negatives
brought. — L. N.
V. fOO'JIC
422 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
AN INVESTIGATION OF POLTERGEIST AND
OTHER PHENOMENA NEAR
ANTIGONISH.*
By Walter F. Prince.
Introduction.
The occasion of my undertaking to investigate the late case
of poltergeist in Nova Scotia was this: An Associated Press
item regarding it met my eye and I wrote to the man who reported
the case for The Halifax Herald, to get, if possible, his first-hand
statement, since the matter fell within the field in which we are
* The Report is printed here almost without alteration, except for excision,
from the original draft given out in Nova Scotia.
The poltergeist performances took place in December, 1921, and January.
1922, the fires constituting the last phase.
In February, Mr. Harold Whidden, an estimable young man living in
Antigonish and one who served at the front in the Great War, also a de-
tective named Carroll, spent two nights in the house for the purpose of
solving the mystery, which Mr. Carroll was confident he could do. On the
second night occurred the experiences related in the Report which impressed
them so much that they no longer believed any normal solution possible.
My own investigation was undertaken at the solicitation of Mr. W. H.
Dennis, proprietor of several Halifax papers, the agreement being on condi-
tion that, whatever assistance might be needed, I was to be in absolute con-
trol. Assistance was indispensable. The house could only be reached by a
22 mile sleighing journey from the county seat, Antigonish, the snow was
deep and the cold at times intense, the house was deserted and nearly all its
furniture removed. Sufficient furniture, bedding and provisions had to be
transported, and since the place was in a clearing in the woods, far from any
neighbor, the cooking had to be done by the men on the spot.
All that region is inhabited mostly by Scotch Roman Catholics, a kindly,
orderly and generally upright people. Antigonish is the seat of the Roman
Catholic University of St Francis Xavier. I' met several of the scholastic
and ecclesiastical leaders, and these showed an enlightened and friendly in-
terest in the undertaking. Had it not been for the bearskin coat of Dr.
Macdonald, county school inspector, which he insisted that I should wear on
the long, cold journey, I might have had a place in legend as the Martyr
of Antigonish.
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 423
accumulating data. This step led to my resolution to go without
payment and investigate the story thoroughly, on the condition
that the necessary facilities be furnished. W. H. Dennis, who
showed from the first a commendable desire to have the matter
sifted to the bottom, was seen by me on my arrival in Halifax,
Saturday morning, March 4th. I told him that whatever position
or tentative judgment I reached would be rendered, with reasons
for the same, irrespective of whatever opinions might prevail in
the province or attach to any particular interest ; and I was pleased
to note that he, as head of the newspapers through which the re-
port was to be made public, equally insisted that The Herald and
The Mail wished exactly that, having no interest other than that
light should be thrown upon the matter so much discussed.
Any matter of the kind which rivets the attention of the
people in a given region and which becomes noised abroad
throughout the country, demands competent investigation. If it
proves entirely explainable on normal grounds, and if the mystery
can be resolved by setting forth the causes and manner of their
operation, then a large number of people are set free from super-
stitions, or at least unfounded notions and apprehensions in that
particular case, and are better fitted to deal intelligently with an-
other if it arises. Or if it prove that some supernormal (or, to
employ the favorite term of my friend. Dr. Henry Holt, super-
usual) cause has operated, some progress may be made toward
understanding such causes and how they operate, while the dis-
tortions, exaggerations and naive theories which have become at-
tached may be gotten rid of.
I have had much experience in investigations, and in many
instances have been able to solve puzzling problems in a manner
which would be satisfactory to the man who believes that matter
and force are the sole two factors in the universe. Yet there have
been cases, I am bound to say, where the data were as complete,
the search as exhaustive and my natural bent toward scepticism
and my determination to reduce the phenomena to the common de-
nominator of the hitherto known and acknowledged, as fully exer-
cised, and yet I have not been able to do so fully, and no one else
has ventured to review the facts set forth with the purpose of
showing that the analysis was defective. Reference will be made
to some of these cases further on.
424 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Classes of Asserted Phenomena at Caledonia Mills.
A. 1. Loosing of cattle in the bam, removal of clothes from the
line, etc.
A. 2. Fires mysteriously set in the house.
B. 1. Sounds and tactual sensations experienced by Harold
Whidden and Detective Carroll one night in February’,
1922.
B. 2. Automatic writing by Harold Whidden on the night of
Friday, March 10, 1922.
Class A is of phenomena which are sometimes called Polter-
geist. This term is applied to cases in which there is an outbreak
of such occurrences as stones and other objects flying into win-
dows or about a room, objects descending “ out of the atmos-
phere,” furniture hopping and tumbling, dishes being broken,
horses' tails becoming mysteriously braided or cut, fires starting
without visible excuse, and the like. Class B stands in quite a
different category, as will be seen.
I and my colleagues stayed in the MacDonald house from
Tuesday afternoon, March 7th, to Monday morning, March 13th.
six nights and upwards of five days, except that the last night I
alone, pursuant to my wishes, occupied it. During this period
nothing of the A class happened, as everyone interested was fore-
warned might very likely be the case, and as was the case when
Messrs. Whidden and Carroll were there two nights, subsequent
to the removal of the MacDonald family. Nor would the mere
fact that the phenomena did not recur prove or disprove any par-
ticular theory of their causation at the time they did occur. Genu-
ine psychical events are more or less sporadic.
During the six-nights period, nothing of the nature of Class
B ( 1 ) occurred, that is, there were no sounds or tactual sensations
which were unusual. The one new experience is that marked
B (2).
As regards A 1, A 2 and B 1, then, there could be no ob-
servation by me of the phenomena in operation. Nevertheless, I
was able to come to one conclusion which is positive, and to
others that are tentative.
The Ezndential Standing of A and B Classes.
But first let us take a glance backward and see how the two
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 425
classes, Poltergeist and the other, compare in the respectability of
their claims in previous cases.
Poltergeist claims, so far as they have been adequately ex-
amined, have an unpromising history. Some sound well on
paper, but nearly all of these depend upon the testimony of lay-
men in this field. On the other hand, many such cases, which
caused local wonderment, have been exploded by psychical re-
searchers and others. It is curious that generally they seem to
revolve around some young person, more frequently a girl. In
the famous Poltergeist antics in the household of John Wesley’s
father, it was a sister of John who seemed to be the centre. In
the Elwyn March case, reported by the A. S. P. R., it was a boy.
In the “ Great Amherst Mystery ” it was a girl. In some Polter-
geistic incidents of the Salem Witchcraft, where the girl, Ann
Putnam, was the chief accuser, there is a question whether Ann
was not herself the " witch ” who caused the mischief. We sim-
ply note that there is a girl in the latest case and pass on. The
Clarke Poltergeist case reported by the A. S. P. R., on the other
hand, seemingly did not centre in a girl, but in a young man. The
Windsor case, investigated by the same body, was connected
causally with a number of persons, both boys and men.
This is the third Nova Scotia Poltergeist case which the A. S.
P. R. has dealt with. The first, “ The Great Amherst Mystery,”
astonished the whole country and attracted attention over in Eng-
land, more than forty years ago. Our present knowledge of it
depends mostly upon a book by Walter Hubbell, an actor, who
was in the house during a portion of the period of activity. Ob-
jects flew about, but no one ever saw them start. Chairs fell over,
but not when squarely in view. Objects were apparently thrown
at Hubbell to his great alarm, but seemed to take pains not quite
to hit him. Pins were found sticking in the girl’s flesh, but
such acts are often self-inflicted by persons afflicted with that
strange mental malady, hysteria. At last, only two years ago, the
many biographical facts which Hubbell naively set down about
Esther Cox were analyzed in the light of abnormal psychology,
and left no room for doubt that hers was a case of dual person-
ality. I had the advantage of my first-hand study of the now
classical " Doris Case of Multiple Personality,” and my book
study of the other recorded cases of the kind, and found an
426 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
abundance of statements in Hubbell’s book which, taken together,
made a demonstration which I think no psychologist would dis-
pute. It was Esther's hands which performed the acts with un-
canny craftiness, in a state for which she was not responsible, and
which she could not remember. At length she was caught burning
a barn and sent to jail, because there was no one to convince the
iury that she was not responsible. (See Proceedings A. S. P. R.,
XIII, Part 1.)
The Windsor, Nova Scotia, case occurred in 1906. An
estimable gentleman reported to the A. S. P. R. that coins rained
from the air upon him, furniture tumbled over at his approach,
barrels hopped up, turned upon their sides and chased him. He
testified that these facts could not possibly have been caused by
human beings, but when the Society sent Mr. Carrington to the
spot he caught the human beings in the act and got confes-
sions from some of them. Even then the worthy victim was
unconvinced. (See Proceedings A. S- P. R., I, Part 2.)
But Class B stands on a much higher level of evidentially.
First as to sounds, etc. It is strange how little study has been
made of rapping sounds not traceable to physical causes, consider-
ing how many have been the observed cases. I know one house-
hold in New York where they began a few days after the death
of a dear friend who was a privileged visitor; and soon after,
when another in close relation died, another quality of rapping
began. For two years these two distinguishable sorts of raps
have gone on, seeming to display intelligence, and for two years
a record has been made. In my own house I studied and recorded
raps which were not referrible to creaking of furniture or boards,
expansion or contraction of wood, rats or winds, or any other
physical cause. They began suddenly one night, alarming a mem-
ber of the household. For hours I sat and moved about, studying
the phenomenon. I had lived in twenty-six houses and had never
heard anything like it. Not only that night, but for months, the
raps were studied. They sounded in a desk, they sounded on
a table by my bed where I lay alone, they sounded on my dress-
ing table in the morning. They never were heard Saturday
nights, so long as I had a Sunday lecture series. As soon as that
stopped, they occurred on Saturday nights also. They were heard
by two or three persons when together. About three weeks after
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 427
they began in my house, they began in my office, but almost
always when none but myself was there. I have heard raps in a
table, have asked them to go to the other end and they went tap-
ping on the way and then a click was heard on the glass of the
book-case two feet farther in a straight line, apparently.
Not only raps, but bangs were heard in my house, and sounds
as of coal running in the cellar. Shortly after we took the house
my daughter heard what she described as footsteps coming down
the stairs from the third floor, and said : “ It is a lame man, papa ;
one leg is shorter than the other.” We knew nothing about the
persons who had died in the house, but when I next saw the lady
who owned it and who lived in another town, and told her the
incident jocularly, she said: “ But it is true and it proved that
her brother had had one leg slightly shorter than the other and
did halt on that narrow stair as described. On one occasion, two
persons heard footsteps at the same time — and I was the other.
I never heard a human being walking in heavy shoes more dis-
tinctly. There was no other person but us two in the house, and
it stood in the middle of a lawn back from a quiet street.
Personally, I doubt if there was actually vibration from the
stairs, but consider it an effect upon consciousness, supemormally
caused.
Another phenomenon was the actual shaking of the bed on
which my daughter lay, at times when she was lying still. At
such periods, if I exchanged rooms with her, I would feel it for
one or two nights, beginning almost at once after lying down, in-
creasing for say five minutes, and dying out in perhaps half an
hour. Many other things happened in this particular house dur-
ing an occupancy of three years. No one was scared ; I studied
the occurrences as coolly as I would study cockroaches and a good
deal more persistently, but was not able to find any normal
solution.
As to automatic writing, I suppose that most people know that
some persons have the power of writing without their conscious
volition, and that while the most of such writing is supposed to
be, like dreams, from their own subconscious minds, there have
been many cases where logic has to be defied in order to hold that
there was no other source, since a string of facts pertinent to a
person who died may be written, which proveably the psychic
428 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
never could have known. Both societies have published much of
such material and it has convinced many of the most competent
and scientific intellects that it came from discamate intelligence.
This is a mere fact of record. Whether or not conclusive, the B
class can show much evidence in favor of supernormal quality.
I have written at this length because the Caledonia Mills facts
have a right to be viewed against their historical background.
We now plunge in ntedias res.
The Unfastening of Cows, Disappearance of Clothing.
As these did not occur while I was on the spot, and left no
visible trace, there is little new to be said. The occurrences are
probably to be judged in the light of what is said in the next
paragraph.
The Fires.
There is, of course, no question that a large number of fires
were set in the house from January 6th to January 12th, 1922.
Nor is there any question in mind that the various witnesses to the
facts have told the truth as they understood it. If there shall
develop in this report any reasons for questioning the accuracy of
their observations, or that these observations were as searching as
they might have been, no doubt of their honesty will be implied.
In my judgment, the fires were set by human hands ; and yet,
I hasten to add and shall afterward show, the person whose hands
were employed was probably not morally guilty of and responsible
for the acts. This person was the girl of the family who is six-
teen years old, but very, very young mentally, a happy, fun-loving
child whom her foster mother says has always been a good child,
as she appeared to be, and I have no reason, paradoxical as it may
sound, to doubt has been. The explanation of the paradox will be
made later in this report.
The fires left their record except where paper has been
stripped away and boards, etc., removed, and there are many
records yet left upon the house. It is upon these that I placed
chief reliance to tell the inside story, and careful scrutiny of them
makes the story pretty plain. I studied every mark of burning
yet left, its character, size and location, both as regards the part of
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 429
the room and height from the floor, searched for collateral indi-
cation and recorded everything. It will be sufficient to summar-
ize the results, though diagrams and details could be given to the
extent of a number of pages. The first fire, in the timber
near the stovepipe in the kitchen, I set aside, since it is impos-
sible to say that it did not, as Mr. MacDonald first supposed, get
started spontaneously from the pipe. It was odd, in that case,
that it died out, but if the wood was damp the fire may have eaten
in slowly, fanned by a draft of which there is evidence in the
location of the burned places, and, the wind dying down, the
moisture may have overcome the fire. This first fire, with the
excitement, may have stimulated the others which were other-
wise set.
1 . — In no place where wall paper or paper objects in proxim-
ity with the walls were set on fire, is there any existing mark of
burning higher than the reach of a person five feet tall (with the
exception of two corners of the small bedroom where it is evident
from the appearance that the fire was set lower down and trav-
elled up where the paper did not adhere tightly to the comers).
If a “ ghost ” was acting independently, or if the fires were from
unintelligent causes, why was there an upper rim of every wall in
every room in the house, varying in perpendicular measurement
from one foot three inches in bedroom and parlor to one foot
eleven inches in the dining room, which was immune, and is it not
odd that this rim began just where the reach of a person five feet
tall leaves off? That is the stature of the girl.
2. — The cases where fires began higher than as above indi-
cated, were all in or on unpapered wooden places, namely, a recess
back of the upper casing of the door leading from the middle, or
dining room side, and on the loose boards resting on beams in the
kitchen, constituting the “ loft.” But in all these cases the fires
started from pieces of cotton cloth which could easily have been
tossed, as the heights are only a few inches above what has been
indicated.
3. — There is no definite, satisfactory evidence that any fire
broke out where the girl could not have been a few minutes
earlier. To be sure, the witnesses were certain that she could not,
but I was not able to get reasons for the assurance which are satis-
factory to one who has many times demonstrated the errors of
430 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
LOWER FLOOR OF HOUSE.
Dimensions given correctly, but not drawn to scale. Unfinished loft over
main part of house, reached by stairs, represented by the oblong opposite the
front door. A few loose boards had been laid over the kitchen. The bed in
the dining-room was put there by the investigating party. Mr. Carroll and
Mr. Whidden lay on the floor in the same part of the room when they had
their experiences. The cross in the small bedroom is where Mr. Whidden
later did the automatic writing.
• .Goode
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 431
observation and memory of people untrained in observation of
species of facts which are new to them.
4. — There were never fires when the family, including the girl,
were out of the house.
5. — The actual starting of the fires never took place where an-
other than the agency which started them could be a witness.
(Since my return to Halifax, I note in a newspaper one apparent
exception, but that there should be one actual exception in a series
of perhaps fifty instances, I strongly doubt. It may be that the
error was the reporter’s, like that of saying that mysterious lights
on a particular night were seen over the house, whereas the origi-
nal witness stated that they were over the woods far distant from
the house. It may be that the piece of paper referred to was
already burning unperceived and, reaching a drier part, the fire
simply burst into a flame as the witness was looking. )
This point regarding the pains taken that the starting of the
fires should avoid the presence of witnesses, is of weight in esti-
mating the likelihood of occult origin. There is considerable evi-
dence, whether conclusive or not, that physical events like the
rising of a table without contact take place, and in such cases
the presence of several persons appears to be necessary, as though
force were borrowed from their bodies. In other words, the best
authenticated cases seem to court inspection, while poltergeist
cases seem to avoid it.
6. — In particular no fires occurred in or on those parts of the
parlor or dining room visible from the kitchen stove, around
which was the common meeting-place on the night of the thirty-
eight fires and at other times. All those portions of the walls and
floor (it should be observed that a box, a cushion, etc., took fire
in other parts of the room) and starting in the parlor, and all
those portions of the dining room visible to persons near the
stove are free from bums. This emphasizes the avoidance of
witnesses of the actual ignitions.
7. — Over and back of the bed in the little bedroom off the
dining room are the marks of a number of separate fires, on the
wall paper, generally following its tom and projecting parts along
a particular crack. The remarkable and significant thing is that
this is at the height that a person five feet tall kneeling on the bed
could easily reach, and such a person in that position could not
432 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
reach to the next higher crack line with its projecting bits of wall
paper, as I, who am five feet seven inches tall, can easily do. The
reason for kneeling is obvious when one sees the snow and dirt
that one running in and out of the house would collect on her
shoes. That whole side of the little room which the bed frame
entirely fills is governed by the law pointed out, but when the eye
turns to the right of the bed area he sees just where the person
could again stand upright, a bum just above the door-frame, at a
point which a person five feet tall could reach standing.
8. — In the recess back of the upper casing of the door in the
dining room, leading to the kitchen, a fire broke out from cloth.
It was extinguished by throwing water upon it. Otherwise, the
contents were undisturbed, else the stirring about of the bits of
crockery, iron, etc., would have mixed up the remnants of burned
cotton glove which I found lying naturally with the black ashes
in one spot. The fact that these had been undisturbed is further
evidenced by the circumstance that the deepest and most extensive
burns in the wood were immediately above the remnants. Beneath
the unbumed fragments of the glove, but lying on the ashes, I
found a match with little burned but the head. That is, the match
had evidently been used to ignite the glove (and whatever other
cloth may have been with it, for the girl says that a piece was
taken out), was quickly extinguished by enveloping it in the glove,
and together with the glove was tossed into the recess where they
were found and taken out by me in the presence of witnesses. No
other match was in the box-like recess of perhaps two and one-
half feet length, and the match found was among the remains of
the half-burned glove. Hence, whoever set this fire did it with a
match.
9. — I found old bottles on beams in the kitchen which con-
tained three inflammable fluids, kerosene, turpentine and separator
oil. The last is practically odorless, bums readily on wet paper,
is capable of going out or continuing if the paper dries before the
oil put on it is exhausted, and bums slowly or rapidly, according
to the circumstances. I do not say that this oil was used in some
of the fires ; I only say that it was apparently available and would
account for some of the effects. For example, if placed on wood
or wet paper at the foot of the curtain it would bum slowly for a
time, and afterwards when all were assembled in the kitchen
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 433
would, on reaching the curtain itself, suddenly flame up, as was
the case.
10. — While there was pains taken by someone to prevent the
actual lightings of the fires from being observed, they were also
designed to attract attention, not of the girl, but of the old couple.
Most of the fires were in the bed-room of the latter. The most
of the fires at night, when everyone was supposedly abed, were in
the kitchen adjoining the room of Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald, but
not in the dining room, where the light might at once attract at-
tention. In the unfinished chamber above the parlor, where the
girl slept, there were but two fires, one by the stairs, the other in
the casing directly above the room of the elder MacDonalds,
where the smoke would soon attract attention. The vicinity of
the girl’s bed was avoided.
1 1. — The house, though old and rude, is remarkably firm. It
is almost impossible for a 200-pound man to make the stairs
creak when stealing softly up and down, (I had Mr. McRitchie
try it). There is hardly a creak in the whole flooring. It would
be quite feasible, it appears to me, for one to come downstairs
and steal past the door of the old couple, either closed or only
slightly ajar (as was the custom) without anyone being the wiser.
A witness named McGillivray could not remember the order of
all the fires when thirty-eight occurred, but he remembered, he
testified, the order of the first six.
1. In parlor, the window curtain.
2. In dining room, wall paper.
3. In parlor, cardboard over stove-hole.
4. In dining room, wall paper.
5. Upstairs, rags.
6. In parlor, cushion on slats of bed.
This order seems suggestive when we consider that persons
were at times moving about looking for fires, and at times sitting
more or less together around the stove in the kitchen. Naturally,
attention after a particular fire would be particularly upon the
room where it occurred and it never occurred, so far as was testi-
fied, in the same room twice in succession. Then note, that the
sixth fire was in a cushion on the slats of the bedstead in the
parlor, a cushion which had been upstairs “ sometime before.”
Note particularly the “ sometime.” That is, not immediately be-
434 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
fore. And note also that the last preceding fire was upstairs so
that a person could, by coming down last, have brought that cush-
ion down unperceived.
Such, in outline, is the case for the causation of the fires. I
am aware that I am disregarding the statement of one honest wit-
ness that he suspected the girl and watched her. I know too much
about the observational errors of persons under emotional stress,
strong prepossessions, and fixation of attention. I have sat in a
room with thirteen other persons of good intelligence, only one of
whom besides myself had training in the matters which we were
to see. Two of us independently made reports in perfect agree-
ment of all sorts of queer stunts performed in the near darkness
with a simple phosphorescent cloth; the rest thought they saw
spirit faces and forms, even though there was nothing to distract
their attention. Dr. Hodgson and Mr. S. J. Davey long ago
demonstrated the errors of observation and confusion of memory
of persons of even high intelligence when the details of what
they have to observe are many and complex, and the matter is
new and strange.
The Mental Causation Back of the Physical.
The layman thinks that if a sane person does a thing he knows
it and is responsible for it, that if a girl's hands set fires she is
doing it for mischief and “ is now laughing about it,” as a letter
received by me states. But this does not necessarily follow. Two
possibilities remain, the first recognized by psychology, the second
supported by some evidence in psychical research.
1. — The girl had a form of hysteria and was in an altered
state of consciousness, which she afterwards imperfectly, or not
at all, remembered. Such was the case with Esther Cox of Am-
herst. I have known other cases of setting fires in such a state.
It is not insanity, and it frequently passes away forever. The
girl’s age in this case somewhat favors the theory, and the fact
that within a year she has had strange “ dream states,” from
which Mrs. MacDonald says it is hard to rouse her. Of course,
there is no blame attachable in such case. The frequent tellings
of stories in the neighborhood about queer happenings, such as
the loosing of cows, the disappearance of objects, etc, which are
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 435
standard old beliefs, may have been an inciting cause and one
accidental fire and the resulting excitement, another.
2. — The other theory would be that a discamate intelligence
incited the childish consciousness of the girl — that it was a case
of obsession. This will be scouted, but in the light of many cases
observed by psychical researchers, it is not to be put entirely out
of court. Spirit possession is familiar to us from the New
T estament and those who accept it as a fact there, cannot be cer-
tain that it is never existent now. Has not the Catholic Church,
in days past, carried out exorcisms ? Some modem cases tend to
support the New Testament affirmations about obsessing spirits.
And if there are such cases, the priestly exorcisms might reason-
ably succeed, whether by erecting barriers in the minds of the
victims or by actually awing the obtruding personalities. And if
there are such cases, this might conceivably be one, where the
girl’s hand was influenced by a volition not her own. This is far
from being my theory, but if obsession is ever scientifically
proved, it would necessarily become an alternative one.
Now we turn to the phenomena of January, which are classi-
fied as B 1 :
The Sounds and Tactual Sensations of Messrs. Whidden and
Carroll.
Of course, I was not able to test these as I did the fires, since
they left no trace. But from similarity to other known instances,
only a small share of which I have already referred to, — and
from the occurrence in them of the same indicia, which I am in
the habit of likening to the spectrum lines by which the presence
of a particular element in combustion is identified, I strongly
incline to think that we have here superphysical, or if you please,
occult phenomena.
1. — Two men heard a succession of sounds of a peculiar and
novel character, hardly describable as of dull thumps and foot-
steps. It was, therefore, a collective experience.
2. — Mr. Whidden emphatically says that these sounds could
not have been made by the animals in the bam, rats or the wind,
with all of which species he is quite familiar. I have not been
able to talk with Mr. Carroll.
436 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
3. — There was also felt by Mr. Whidden a novel sensation as
of a slap, upon his arm, and every physical cause seems to be
effectually excluded by his statement of the circumstances.
4. — Mr. Carroll also felt a similar but lighter sensation in a
somewhat different place. There was, therefore, sharing of this
kind of experience also.
5. — There was no reason for expecting such experiences, for
none had been told them, and so far as I can learn, none had been
had by the family.
6. — If they were pure hallucinations, brought about by gen-
eral apprehension, they should have occurred the first night, and
not on the second when any apprehensions that we may imagine
should have been quieted by the previous absence of anything out
of common.
7. — There are no data for supposing that the mere sensations
of cold produced the experiences. If a man is actually freezing he
may have hallucinations, but not of this character ; especially being
cold — not freezing by any means — would not account for both
having almost identically the same impressions of two species.
8. — Neither was asleep, and they had not long lain down.
9. — As I have said, the house is remarkably firm, and the ut-
most effect of the strongest wind that blew during our subsequent
five days and six nights was to produce slight creaking. Yet, we
had winds, Mr. Whidden testifies, much stronger than at the
hour of the strange sounds, wind from the north, and wind from
the south, and not a solitary instance of such a sound was heard
as both Whidden and Carroll heard. On the night which I spent
there alone I went into the attic specially to observe whether a
particular loose board which someone suspected moved at all, and
it did not.
10. — Such sounds have been heard in other well-authenticated
instances, and normal causes could not be found, though skilled
observations continued for weeks.
11. — Tactual sensations have been observed in other cases. In
my own “ haunted house ” in New Jersey, a member of my fam-
ily was frightened one night by repeated sensations as of the bed-
clothes being pulled while she was awake. Afterwards, by acci-
dent, a lady who had no knowledge of this told me of an exactly
similar experience which she had when she rented rooms in the
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 437
same otherwise empty house a year before, and which made her
flee the house. These appear to be facts; explain them as you
may ; only you must not form a theory that does not account for
all the facts.
Why did these experiences begin when Mr. Whidden occupied
the house? Because he happens to be that type of psychic in
whose proximity those types of phenomena can take place. That
I say only tentatively, but it appears certain that there is a rela-
tion between certain species of phenomena and certain persons.
Why did Mr. Carroll have the same experiences ? According
to this theory, because he was with Mr. Whidden. There were
periods when my daughter’s bed shook, as I have said. I could
put my hand on the frame and feel it shake, when I could detect
no movement on her part. Moreover, I could exchange rooms
and for one or two nights experience the shaking myself.
Why did not similar experiences recur during our period of
six nights ? Because such phenomena are sporadic and we know
little of their laws. Perhaps the presence of certain other persons,
for instance, myself, disturbed or neutralized the forces, what-
ever they are.
There is one more point to come, that designated B 2.
The Automatic IV riling by Mr. Whidden, March io.
Some one recently said that the state of the person who writes
without conscious volition is undesirable, is akin to the state
of the sleep-walker. Well, this is true and it isn’t, according
to circumstances and degrees. On one side, it is akin to sleep-
walking, and on the other side it is akin to the power by which
some persons deliver their most lofty oratory, or compose their
most beautiful music or poetry — the work that is called “ in-
spired.” It may be only different ways of handling and cultivat-
ing peculiar capacity which makes one man an eccentric and an-
other a genius. Thus a “ psychic ” — that is a person who is
capable of automatic writing or other kinds of power, such as
is known as telepathic, clairvoyant, etc. — may be induced thereby
to become a crank or he may be stimulated to higher efficiency
If my friend, Mr. Whidden, is “ psychical,” I am sure that with
438 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
his character and good sense, he will not be harmed, but will
rather be helped by the fact. Goethe, the greatest literary light
of Germany, was a psychic to a degree, who was not ashamed to
tell his experiences. So were Dickens, the naturalist John Muir,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, and many another distinguished person.
If I could, by being a “ psychic,” write such literature as Mrs.
Curran has automatically written in her “ Patience Worth,” etc.,
I would jump at the chance. That marvelous saint Jeanne d’Arc
did her historic work because she was a psychic. Many of the
canonized saints appear by what is known of them to have pos-
sessed psychical experiences which led them in holy ways. Mar-
tin Luther, .who heard inexplicable sounds and saw an apparition
which he interpreted but did not prove to be a devil was, there-
fore, a psychic to that degree, but did not lose his practical
efficiency.
Automatic writing is carried on as an act by the subconscious
part of the human mind. The question is whether anything ever
is injected into that writing which transcends the subconscious
mind. This question has been answered by experienced scientific
students of the phenomena practically unanimously in the affirma-
tive. Then another question arises, whether that factor which
could not have originated from subconscious knowledge or chance
coincidence is from discamate spirits.
All scientific experienced students agree that some automatic
writings are plainly from a subconscious mind alone.
All such agree that some automatic writings give no clue from
their contents whether they are totally from the subconscious
or not.
Practically all such agree that there exist automatic writings
containing a factor which could not have originated solely in the
subconscious mind, but which require either the spiritistic hy-
pothesis for its explanation, or the telepathic (transmission of
thoughts between living persons by other than the known chan-
nels) hypothesis strained to its utmost capacity.
The automatic writing produced by Mr. Whidden so unex-
pectedly to him and so dramatically, belongs to the second class,
that is, I should be unable from its contents to say whether or not
it all came from his subconscious mind. Although one correct
statement not within his knowledge was made, that is not enough
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 439
for a judgment.* Usually it requires a period of development
before evidential matter begins to appear, though in one case a
noted writer who did her first automatic writing with me, pro-
duced highly evidential matter in the second and third experi-
ments and none in those which I had with her after that.
But there is one fact which is hard to explain on the theory of
solely subconscious origination. I picked Mr. Whidden out as
the one with whom first to try the experiment, because he seemed
to be the most likely one, a fact not at all to his discredit. My
object was merely psychological curiosity and to pass the time
away. He had no appearance of expectation, and says he had
not any, and the first experiment was without result, the second
succeeding to a rather volcanic degree. Naturally, after this he
fully expected that the next trial would be as successful, and,
being curious about the new experience, hoped it would be. But
there was absolute failure in the next and three following trials.
Not a word was written.
This is rather a hard riddle on the solely subconscious theory.
Psychologists expect that strong expectation and desire on the
part of an automatist will manifest itself. Had the four last ex-
periments increased in extent they would certainly have pointed to
the increased expectation and desire. It is hard to see how the
opposite result could equally serve the same theory. We know
that the subconscious is capable of contradicting the opinions of
the conscious mind in cases where there has been previous mental
debate settled by reason and will on one side of the question, and
locking up and suppressing the other side tinged with desires, in
the subconscious. But there had been no old debate upon this
sort of thing by Mr. Whidden. It was a new experience and
almost a new topic to his mind.
If — I only say if — the girl was temporarily obsessed to per-
form acts not properly her own, then the “ communication ”
through Mr. Whidden to the effect that the “ communicator ”
“ caused the fires ” would be consistent enough.
Dr. Hyslop was convinced that there were cases of obsession.
I once witnessed a scene which was very suggestive that it might
* Subsequent information has been received to the effect that another asser-
tion, of marked character, by the purported communicator has been verified
440 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
be in operation. A professional man, whose work is widely
known, came to me to see if he was “ bug-house,” as he ex-
pressed it, and in a shamed manner laid before me two pieces of
script which I at once knew had the marks of automatism. ” My
hand did this of itself,” he said. “ I want to know if I am getting
crazy.” It appeared that the purported communicator, a relative,
had lately died. I had an experiment with the gentleman. He
went into spontaneous trance, and the same “ communicator "
wrote. Presently she named a man who she said was trying to
influence him wrongly, and expressed much concern. I asked
where he lived, and it was stated, “ He is on our side.” Sud-
denly the writing changed, the movements became vicious, the
pencil was flung away, the features writhed, the eyes opened, and
for some moments the man glared at me in stony horror, then
passed into full consciousness. It appeared that he had seen a
vision of that dead man and for a little after waking had thought
I was he. The only reason I mention this case is because the man
was singularly ignorant of such matters, had never heard of ob-
session, yet the identical claim was made in his writing and sub-
jective experience that we have had in other quarters.
In a few words, I restate my findings.
The fires were set by human hands, but almost certainly with-
out guilt, probably in an altered state of consciousness and pos-
sibly influenced by a discarnate agency. The sounds and tactual
sensations experienced by Messrs. Whidden and Carroll were
probably supernormal experiences due to causes which psychical
research has not yet determined. The automatic writing of Mr.
Whidden was an absolutely valid psychological fact which pos-
sibly, though not yet probably, transcends the purely psycholog-
ical, and if so, would be in harmony with the suggestion that the
girl was temporarily obsessed. I have, as yet, no convictions on
the last point one way or the other, but I am glad to add this case
to the data under consideration.
One final word : Many statements and acts have been attrib-
uted to me in certain papers, and thence have become widely dis-
seminated, which have no foundation. There have even appeared
purported interviews with me which never took place.
One claim was that I regarded the wireless wave theory of the
fires. I did not for a moment, though I entertain great respect
An Investigation of Poltergeist and Other Phenomena. 441
for the proponents. And after I had examined the house, I knew
that the waves could not be responsible unless they were endowed
with intelligence to know when people were in the house, with a
dislike for wall area more than six feet and six inches high, with
shyness about breaking out into flames directly before witnesses,
and with capacity to carry sofa cushions down-stairs and to tuck
rags into pasteboard boxes and to set them on the floor.
I much prefer that my movements and opinions should be
sought by those they chance to interest in statements written and
signed by me.*
* I shall probably never again undertake an investigation under the auspices
of a newspaper, although there is nothing to complain of in relation to its
proprietor, but quite the contrary. The reason I did so in this case, apart
from avoidance of the large expense, was that 1 thought that by this arrange-
ment only authorized reports would reach the public. Not being a prophet,
I had no expectation that this case, not a twentieth as important as some
others the Society had reported, would be followed, in a fashion, day by day
in nearly every newspaper in the United States and Canada, nor were any of
the party in our five days' solitude aware that this was taking place, and that
newspapers abroad were printing cabled data. On emerging, it was found
that no less than three long accounts had been spread abroad purporting to
have been written by one of the party who had never sent out a line, besides
a forged interview with me and one with Mary Ellen, attributing to her sen-
tences which she could not have formulated to save her life. A variety of
sayings and acts were ascribed to me widely at variance with the truth.
The very precautions which were taken to provide that only authorized
statements should go out by a responsible channel stimulated certain reporters
to violate the ethics of their calling by substituting guesses and sheer inven-
tions for the facts that they could not legitimately procure. Hence is indicated
the policy of giving signed statements, when publicity cannot be avoided, to
all comers alike.
442 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ A CASE OF FRAUD WITH THE CREWE CIRCLE.”
Several times this Journal has ventured to point out doubtful
features in connection with the purported spirit photography of
William Hope, of Crewe, England. (See issues of August,
1921, January, 1922, and March, 1922.) The first of these brief
notes, by Mr. Dingwall, caused a quantity of discussion, partly
acrimonious and personal, in Light and other spiritualistic organs
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made both the note referred to and
an honestly expressed opinion that six photographs, submitted to
refute the statement that spirit photographs are often mere
“ smudges,” were in part excellent examples of the propriety of
the term, texts for the charge that Mr. Dingwall was “ clearly out
to disprove and not to prove ” and for the avowal that “ it is this
sort of criticism which nullifies the work of the Society [ for
Psychical Research], so that many of us have turned to the little
S. S. S. P. [Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures — a
title which implies full acceptance of claims which it is supposed
to be investigating] and to the Psychic College [of Mr. Macken-
zie] as the true centres of light and progress in this country.”
The present writer could not understand Sir Arthur’s logic,
for he declared that he was willing to demonstrate that the
pictures in question were not smudges by “ sending these same
photographs to <W3' [our italics] judge,” yet had rejected the
opinion of the first judge whom he selected, with scorn and indig-
nation. I saw the photographs and quite agreed with Mr. Ding-
wall’s opinion, so that if I were appealed to the reaction would
of course be the same. The only conclusion is that Sir Arthur
would accept the opinion of any judge who agreed with him.
Close association with Mr. Dingwall for a year and a hundred
conversations with him demonstrated, besides, that the dictum
that he is out to disprove and not to prove is not a true one.
Nothing in the way either of credit or proof can be gained by
misrepresenting a very able and fair-minded investigator.
Mr. Dingwall left America planning to secure a series of sit-
tings with the Crewe circle, if permitted, and his language showed
“ A Case of Fraud with the Crewe Circle.” 443
dearly that if he proved the resulting photographs supernormal
his satisfaction would be at least equal to his satisfaction if he
proved them spurious. This is all that can be demanded of the
emotional attitude of any scientific investigator. More than this
tends to dim the mental retina and osdllate the chain of logic.
An article in the May Journal of the S. P. R., under the
caption which heads this article, tells what followed. Mr. Ding-
wall did his best, as the officers of the Society had previously
done, to secure sittings with the Crewe Circle, but without avail.
This does not seem particularly flattering to Mr. Hope, as such is
the course adopted by fraudulent mediums the world over when
approached by investigators of known skill, usually with the
plausible excuse that the investigator's " vibrations ” would be
injurious. But even at that, the worst that could happen to
genuine phenomena would be their failure to take place, and no
sensible man would say that this proved that the phenomena had
not previously occurred. The cant about injurious vibrations is
probably folderol, but it is quite conceivable that the medium’s
nervousness for fear that phenomena would not appear could put
his psychical machinery out of gear.
There is one way to avoid this contingency and that is to send
a man with the needful equipment who is unknown to the me-
dium. Repeated experiments have shown that results, whether
genuine or spurious, are not checked by any injurious vibrations
supposed to emanate, providing that the medium does not know
that the pryer is present. And most unprofessional psychics are
quite willing that the most ultra-scientific investigator shall ex-
periment with them, though it may require gentle treatment and
several sittings to get matters well under way.
The sensible course was taken. Mr. Harry Price, a member
of the S. P. R., a photographer of large experience, a member of
the American Society of Magicians, formerly Hon. Librarian of
the Magicians’ Club of London, etc., undertook the task for
which he was specially fitted. Failing to receive replies to the two
letters addressed to Mr. Hope, arrangements were made through
officers of the British College of Psychic Science, in whose build-
ing Mr. Hope often does his photographing. After two post-
ponements the date for the sitting was finally fixed for Febru-
ary 24th.
444 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Having been requested to bring a half dozen packet of %
plates, either Imperial or Wellington Wards, on January 25th Mr.
Price visited the works of the Imperial Dry Rate Co., Ltd., and
discussed with its secretary how the plates should be invisibly
marked. The result was that the plates were exposed to X-rays
in such a way that on each after development would appear a
portion of the rampant lion trade mark of the firm. Four of the
plates put together would show the entire design, and the remain-
ing two would show variant portions of the design which, joined
to two retained by the firm, would again complete the pattern.
The packet was received as packed by the company, and placed in
the hands of the secretary of the S. P. R. to be kept to the date
appointed.
On February 24th Mr. Price, accompanied by Mr. James Sey-
mour, who also had knowledge of photography and trickery, pro-
ceeded to the British Psychic College, met Mrs. McKenzie, and
conversed with her agreeably, and then the visitors were escorted
to the studio and introduced to Mr. Hope and his assistant, Mrs.
Buxton, with whom there was more polite conversation. Mrs.
Buxton appeared to eye the packet with considerable attention,
perhaps because not used to have plates enveloped in a postal
wrapper. This was removed and both Mr. Hope and Mrs. Bux-
ton examined the inner wrapper minutely, the latter asked if the
packet had been opened, received the truthful reply, “ It is ex-
actly as I got it from the makers, wrapper and all,” and satis-
faction seemed to reign. According to directions, the party
placed their palms on the table, with fingers interlinked, though
it appeared not to be necessary that Mr. Hope’s and Mrs. Bux-
ton’s should be joined continuously. ” Nearer, My God, to
Thee,” was sung. Mr. Hope offered a long prayer. Mrs. Bux-
ton sang another hymn, the hands of all were arranged in a pile
with the plates in the center, Mrs. Buxton uttered a short prayer,
the Lord’s Prayer was sung, and another hymn ended the pious
ceremonies.
Then Mr. Hope went to the dark-room, leaving the plates on
the table. He brought out and explained his dark-slide, told in
what manner some people thought he played tricks with it, and
handed it to Mr. Price to examine. The latter marked it indelibly
on both sides. Whether or not Mr. Hope saw him do this is not
“ A Case of Fraud -with the Crewe Circle.”
445
stated. Then Mr. Hope invited Mr. Price to go into the dark-
room, but directed Mr. Seymour to remain with Mrs. Buxton
and keep his hands on the table so as to " maintain the influence.”
Mr. Seymour and his hands having been disposed of, the other
gentlemen entered the dark-room, after Mr. Hope, at the en-
trance, had cut the strings of the plates.
We cannot here rehearse all the details of what took place in
the dark-room, for which the full report of twelve pages should
be consulted. Mr. Hope, as was perfectly proper, insisted on Mr.
Price’s performing the various steps of loading the dark-slide, in
order that he himself might be free from all suspicion. But then
came a moment when this solicitude was relaxed. He asked Mr
Price to wrap up the remaining plates, and took the dark-slide for
the ostensible purpose of giving an opportunity for this to be
done. Mr. Price continues, “ I said, ‘Yes, I will,’ and did so, but
my eyes never left that dark-slide or his hands, although I was
doing up the packet, and I saw him — as he backed, giving a half
lum, two or three paces from the light — put the dark-slide to his
left breast pocket, and take it out again (another one?).”
Therefore,
1. The opportunity to cheat existed and a suspicious
movement, quite unnecessary for honest purposes, was clearly
discerned.
2. As they walked into the photographing studio Mr. Price
took the slide out of his pocket, where he had placed it after its
return by Mr. Hope, and took advantage of an opportunity to
look at it. The indelible marks placed upon the slide which Mr.
Price had loaded were not on this. It was another slide.
3. The plates were exposed each about nineteen seconds, an
abnormally long exposure for such plates as Mr. Hope knew them
to be. Yet the photographs actually obtained showed no effects
of too long exposure.
4. The two plates were immediately developed in the dark-
room, and on one of them appeared “ a charming female form,”
but on neither of them appeared any trace of the lion rampant.
Therefore none of the plates brought by Mr. Price could have
been used. So now not merely a possibility, but a presumption
attaches to the suspicious movements of Mr. Hope when the visit-
ors’ eyes were supposed to be riveted on the task set for him.
446 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
5. As the plate without “ extra ” appeared to have an excel-
lent portrait of Mr. Price, he obtained permission to take it away.
It proved to be of thinner glass than those brought and given the
photographer and also to be of a slightly different color.
That a duplicate slide containing prepared plates was brought
by Mr. Hope and substituted at a supposedly favorable moment
created by calculated device seems to have been demonstrated.
Thus far the " replies " in Light and other spiritualistic
organs have been weak indeed. The favorite device is an insinu-
ation rather than a charge that Mr. Price effected a change of
plates himself in order to make out a case against Mr. Hope. I.et
us see what this desperate theory, if put forward, would involve.
In the first place, it is certain that a package of six invisibly
marked plates was taken to Mr. Hope on February 24th, in their
original trade wrappers and the postal wrapper over that, and that
on February 24th, four of these plates (the unused ones) were
taken away. It is certain also that one plate taken away, the one
with the extra, was not of those six, and that the plate from
which the other photograph was printed was not of the six. Sub-
stitutions, then, took place in the studio, and the substitutions
must have been of the nature of conjuring. Now it is notorious
that it is the conjurer and not the spectator, the conjured, who
does the “ steering,” that is, who directs just what shall be done.
It appears from Mr. Price’s account, and this is in agreement
with accounts given by other sitters, that it was Mr. Hope who
held the reins and did the steering. “ Now do exactly what I tell
you,” was his injunction, and Mr. Price meekly obeyed. Again,
if one watches a conjurer sharply, he may not see the most im-
portant thing that is being done, but he does see that something
is being done. When the conjurer catches coins *' out of the air ”
it is by a snatching movement, a misinterpreted one; he cannot
do the trick with hands held out motionless. When he causes the
coin to disappear from beneath the saucer he touches the saucer,
or at least makes motions as if of incantation. He is the active
one, the talker, who creates an opportunity, then profits from the
opportunity under pretense of doing something else. Had Mr.
Price attempted to perform acts such as we all expect of the de-
clared conjurer, in order, under the cover of a pretended casual
purpose, to exchange the slides, the man who said “ Now do
“ A Case of Fraud with the Crewe Circle.’' 447
exactly what I tell you ” would have known at once that some-
thing was wrong. Nor could a stranger well have succeeded in
foisting upon Mr. Hope another than his own familiar slide.
No reply has come from Mr. Hope himself ! No conclusion
should be drawn from this, though hardly any other man in his
place, knowing himself to be innocent and deceived, would let a
day pass before publishing an indignant denial. He may be of a
peculiar psychological constitution.
At last accounts in Light, a gentleman, Mr. H. W. Pugh, has
put up a sum of money for experiments with both Mr. Hope and
Mrs. Deane under the general direction of the representatives of
the S. P. R., and on stipulated fair conditions. The Society has
agreed to the arrangement, and it remains to be seen if the
mediums accept.
>0*1
448 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENTS.
The following three accounts were prepared by Dr. Hyslop
and are presented exactly as he left them except for the addition
of footnotes.
COINCIDENTAL EXPERIENCES.
The following record is from the material of Dr. Richard
Hodgson. It must tell its own story. Since his death I have
received a large mass of similar experiences from the same source
and they shall receive notice at some later date. But the present
incidents deserve record as a part of the collection by Dr. Hodg-
son. Mr. Niles (pseudonym) has now passed away (1914).
When the child’s experiences were first reported Prof. James
and Dr. Hodgson tried some experiments with her in crystal gaz-
ing, with negative results. While they were going on Dr. Hodg-
son made a note of certain incidents told him by her mother and
they were followed by written accounts of others which, with his
notes, begin this record. — James H. Hyslop.
While these experiments were going on, R. H. was talking to
Mrs. Niles about some experiences of her own and of Elizabeth’s
dream visions. Among the apparently supernormal experiences
which Elizabeth was said to have had are the following.
About three years ago she saw two apparitions which Mrs. Niles
connected with the death at the time of two friends at a distance, one
her Aunt Julia and one a Miss Hattie Fowler.
Another time Elizabeth felt certain that Aunt Nina’s baby would
recover from its illness and yet at the same time she saw a funeral
or a hearse. The baby contrary to expectation did recover but at
the same time a cousin Abbie died.
Another apparition which Elizabeth described was that of a Mr.
John Shepherd who was known to be ill. At the time of his death
she saw his figure holding a bead chain up in front of her. Elizabeth
had worked such a bead chain as a little present for Mr. Shepherd
some time before. She learned afterwards that Mr. Shepherd died
at the time of her vision.
Incidents.
449
Elizabeth stated that she felt that a certain John Reading was
dead as she had seen his figure several times recently. From Mrs.
Niles’ account it appears that John Reading worked for some time
on their ranch but that he left them about two months ago and they
have heard nothing about him since. The occasion of his leaving
was the arrival of several men in the neighborhood of the ranch who
told him that he was wanted for murder that had been committed
about a year before.
Richard Hodgson.
In letter of June 9th, 1904, Mrs. Niles writes:
Maple St., Danvers, Mass., June 9, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson :
.... She felt John Reading's influence for three days, and told
me that “ he murdered the lady because he thought it was best for
her,” and Beth’s tears were hard to suppress. I am so sorry the
child must suffer in this unusual way. Can it not be prevented ?
No one is sure that he was the murderer, as far as we could
learn, and I tried to make Beth feel he did not do the deed but she
says he did, and I do not know how to get any information on the
subject, even as to his death.
Yours sincerely,
(Mrs.) A P Niles.
Maple St., Danvers, Mass., June 13, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson :
.... Beth is so busy with her plays among the children just
now — this psychic side is dormant for a few days, and I suppose it
is wiser not to awaken it in her ? When she feels the “ influence ”
again I will ask her to try and help John Reading and learn some
particulars for you.
I myself do not feel that he has “ died.” He had a dreadful
temper — and frankly said he was “ dangerous ” when angry and all
the men were cautious, but I do not believe he would commit suicide.
Beth has told me that she heard one of the men who identified him
say that it was supposed that he murdered his rival and that the
young lady refused to marry John when informed of the suspicion
in regard to him. I understood Beth to say (when she was so much
450 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
agitated about John’s nearness) that he murdered the lady — but
she now says “ he said he murdered the man because he thought it
was for the lady’s good.”
******
Yours sincerely,
(Mas.) A. P. Niles.
Hinsdale, Mont., Oct. 31, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson :
I have not forgotten that I promised to try to write you of the
psychical experiences we have had on the ranch at the times of
death of relatives or friends.
If they should be of any service to you, may I ask you not to
mention my name in connection with them, as others of the family
would not like to have these matters known. They actually hap-
pened however, and many others.
*****
(Mrs.) A. P. Niles.
After my mother’s death early in the year of 1895, I was very
ill at the ranch for months. The doctor felt sure I could not rally
and at one time after a consultation, supposed my life was ended.
My husband was alone with me and heard me talking to mother.
It seemed to me, after a period of unconsciousness, that I left
my body and passed upward through a stretch of darkness into a
beautiful light. The air was wonderfully sweet and pure. I ex-
claimed “ How beautiful 1 ” Then from the left my mother ap-
peared, smiling so radiantly, to tell me of her happiness and peace.
I felt that she told me I had work to do, that I must live on earth
longer, that my baby would be bom in a few weeks, to be with us
only a few months, and then go to mother. ( My husband heard my
side of the conversation.) I grew better after that and did not
mourn for my mother. Our baby was bom and was perfectly well
until the day before her death at three months old.
As a little child (three years old) Elizabeth talked to "baby
Alice ” and seemed to play with her, sharing her toys happily with
the child I could not see.
Incidents.
451
When Richard could only say a few words, he also said “ light ”
and watched the same vision moving about the room that Beth
called her baby “ sister’s light ” and watched in babyhood as Rich-
ard did. Often the little fellow would smile and reach up his hands
to touch — that something — hidden from me.
One Friday evening I received a long cheery letter from my
father (written in the Danvers home) who at the time of writing
was in perfect health. The following day, as I was writing an
answer, a hand seemed to gently prevent me from writing the many
things I wanted to write of interest to him. I could not finish the
letter, and could not understand it. On Sunday, I tried to play my
parents’ favorite hymn and could not. The same strange quiet force
seemed to prevent, and I gave up trying, saying to my husband and
friend that I felt the presence of both my parents and could not un-
derstand why, thinking father was well at the old homestead. On
Monday, a delayed telegram told us of my father’s sudden death
from heart failure on Saturday.
One Monday evening, when Elizabeth and I were alone in the
library on the ranch, Elizabeth said two old ladies were beside my
chair, describing them clearly. At the end of that week (during
which no mail had been brought to the ranch), I went to the nearest
city to see my brother. He asked me if I had received his tele-
gram of Aunt Julia's death. (Mrs. J. D. P of Danvers.) I
asked if she died Monday, and he was surprised that I should know
the day, when no word had reached me. He did not know of any
other death, but in another week we heard of a cousin’s death. The
two ladies were buried on the same day. Beth had never heard of
the latter but described her perfectly.
A German maid was with us that year, and one evening Beth
saw a lady in black standing beside C with a baby in her arms,
holding the child towards C .
In a month C received a missent letter telling her that her
little God-child’s mother had died the evening Beth spoke of the
vision to C
A friend died in a Chicago hospital early one winter. That
morning as Beth opened the door early to go out before breakfast
with her dog, the dog whined and ran back of the door. Beth saw
a tall dark figure on the porch apparently writing in a book and
standing beside a grave. She ran to tell me. I told her to try again
452 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
to send Gyp out of doors, and to ask the figure if it still remained,
if it wished us to know of a relative.
The dog could not be coaxed near the porch, and a puppy on its
way around the porch stopped, whined and ran away. Beth asked
the question and thought the figure shook its head but nodded when
asked if a friend had died. (The friend was a writer and a member
of a Theosophical Society.)
Vandalia, Mont., Nov. 10, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson :
Your letter came yesterday, and we will be glad to add state-
ments to the copies you may send us of the experiences. Mr. Niles
will add his words, but he is not in sympathy with this study. The
German maid is with us again and the friend will be with us for
Thanksgiving, so I think we can send you all the information you
wish, with the dates.
The house-dog was a bull-terrier; the puppy, a shepherd. Beth
has begun to write that account for you herself. She sees the figure
of the monk very clearly at times, and can describe it for you.
The friend in Chicago was Mrs. Fred Ashall, at one time when
in Denver a writer for the Women’s Club articles. Her death was
hastened perhaps by a severe operation — or more — for some in-
ternal trouble. I have written to her doctor in Helena in regard to
it, and will write to my brother in regard to my Aunt Julia’s death,
but like others of our family, he is opposed to psychical or occult
matters and he may not be willing to write of the conversation.
Very sincerely yours,
(Mrs.) A. P. Niles.
Vandalia, Montana, Nov. 28, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson :
In answer to your questions in your letter of Nov. 5th, I enclose
Mr. Niles’s account of the Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Richard first spoke
of the “light” in 1901. My father died on April 16, 1896, but I
have not the telegram. My aunt, Mrs. P , died July 29, 1901
and I think Miss Fowler’s death occurred the same day. They were
buried on the same day.
M
Incidents.
453
My brother's answer to my letter is also enclosed. His telegram
was sent to our address at Cascade, nine miles from the ranch, and
that week none of our men happened to go up for the mail. Great
Falls is in the opposite direction, so I did not pass the office on my
way to Great Falls when I went to see my brother.
Catherine's statement is enclosed. The friend Mrs. Ashall died
in Chicago, Jan. 13, 1902.
Beth’s account is not yet finished. We felt it best not to have
her devote time to these matters during the Thanksgiving prepara-
tions for guests and the holiday festivities but she will soon send
them to you.
In regard to the Chicago house I do not believe I shall find any
written accounts among my papers. I wrote of them in letters at
the time, also spoke to my friends on that street of them at the time.
There were no mediums in the house while we were there — or
if there were — I never knew of them.
Very sincerely yours,
A P Niles.
The following is the letter written to Dr. Hodgson about the
house and to which reference is made above.
Vandalia, Montana, Nov. 15, 1904.
Dear Dr. Hodgson:
The other day after your letter came, it occurred to Beth that
you might be glad to hear of a house we rented in Chicago in nine-
teen hundred. We lived there ( St., Chicago) for a month
(Oct. to Nov.) to be near some friends boarding near-by on that
same street.
A month in that weird peculiar place was full of strange ex-
periences of a low order and I have never cared to speak of it.
Indian Guides,” and " Irish Guide,” named “ Mike,” moving fur-
niture, rappings, cold draughts of air and “voices from nowhere,”
were not pleasant daily excitement. The widow of whom we rented
the house retained her front chamber for her own use and in it
kept her husband’s psychical library, his crystal magic mirror, black
screen, etc. Every medium (of any kind evidently) that had been
in Chicago for a dozen years prior to her husband's death (six
454 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
months before we were there) had, according to Mrs. M ,
visited the house and “ held sittings there." In Mrs. M 's
bookcase were works of Andrew Jackson Davis, Boehme, Annie
Besant, books on astronomy, cards, black magic and so on. The
widow's tales were enough to make me feel it wise to move at the
end of the month, much to her chagrin, for it was strangely difficult
for her to rent the house.
Should you be in search of a “haunted ’’ house I believe you
could find it there, if anywhere. One would need patience and iron
nerve to live with Mrs. M„ but it might be an interesting field for
such a phase of psychical research.
Sincerely yours,
A P Niles.
The following are the corroborative letters of Mr. Niles and
of the Catherine alluded to above.
Vandalia, Montana, Nov. 17, 1904.
Richard Hodgson,
Dear Sir:
Referring to the matter of which you speak in your letter to Mrs.
Niles, I can only say that it was truly remarkable that she should
have been able to converse with her mother as she did and that she
should be told things which were at that time wholly unknown and
which should occur exactly as she was told by her mother they
would occur.
The simple fact that these things came about is as far as my
jioor finite reasoning powers can follow. I do not pretend to un-
derstand anything about the forces underlying revelations so won-
derful in character.
Yours very truly.
H. H. Niles.
Vandalia, Montana, Nov. 29, 1904.
Richard Hodcson, LL.D.,
My Dear Sir:
On the 17th instant I wrote you of some things Mrs. Niles had
told me of and about matters I do not understand nor experience:
but Mrs. Niles with that persistence which seems to belong to women
Incidents.
455
and in this case to especially good women insists that I must tell all
I know. Now ordinarily Sir, this is not difficult, but in this case
when something happens (which they tell me about) very often it is
not so easy.
I remember a most vivid occurrence where Mrs. Niles was sit-
ting at the piano and turned to me saying that both her parents
seemed present and then another time when both our children fol-
lowed a light which seemed to be carried by their baby sister who
has “ gone before.”
These are strange things to me, but they are most real to mem-
bers of my family and the influence is most certainly one for good.
And so I, who cannot see these things, say to whom the veil is
thinner, Bless you all! and how beautiful it would be if that thing
which we term death does not separate us from the loved ones after
all and that some day the mind of the living shall have learned to
speak to minds of dear ones who have lived. Bidding you good-
night, I beg to subscribe myself.
Very truly yours,
H. H. Niles.
Vandalia, Montana, Nov. 25th, 1904.
Mrs. Niles has told me that you want my statement of what
I know of Beth and Richard which I am glad to do.
Beth's playing with Alice: I remember going into Beth’s room
and Beth said she was playing with her sister Alice. Some even-
ings before she went to bed, she put her playthings and the doll in a
chair for her sister to play with over night.
Richard following a light: One day when I was alone with the
children in Beth's room, Richard reached for a (Light) that Beth
could see, but I could not.
Beth telling about the Death of a dear Friend far away: Beth
saw a lady in black around me, holding a little baby. About a month
after, I received a letter from home, that had been delayed, telling
me about the death of my Godchild's mother on that day.
Yours truly,
Catherine Fonk.
The following is the statement of Mrs. Niles’s brother about
the telegram and the incident regarding her Aunt Julia.
456 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Boston, Mass., Nov. 19, 1904.
Dear A :
Yours of the 1st received and I have tried hard to recall the
conversation in reference to Aunt Julia’s death, but my remem-
brance of it is so indistinct that it amounts to almost nothing. I
am sorry for if I could give a clear statement for you I would do so.
If you had told me, at that time, of Beth’s telling of it, it would have
impressed itself on my mind, but I must have considered it in the
light of a telegram gone astray or else undelivered and let it slip out
of my mind. . . .
The remainder of the letter was omitted in the report and so
no signature goes with it. — James H. Hyscop.
>0*1
Incidents.
457
EXPERIENCES OF MISS CLARKE.
The following incident is by one of the parties present at the
phenomena recorded in the Proceedings, Vol. VII, pp. 193-425,
who was a member of the family. In remarks about the personali-
ties and mention of some other recorded incidents, I called atten-
tion to the fact that Miss Clarke was herself psychic. The present
incident is further evidence of that assertion. It has to be classed
with coincidental apparitions, tho it also includes clairaudient phe-
nomena having the same associations. The record of the physical
phenomena was made within a few days after the events. The
present incident had no such record and its value will depend upon
the character of the lady’s memory of the facts. We might well
question it, if any extraordinary conclusion depended upon the
accuracy of the events. But we are so familiar with the type and
there are so many well attested cases of the same kind, that there
is no difficulty in adding the present one to the list.* — J. H. H.
Coincidental Apparition.
When the phenomena happened at our little cottage in Oakland
in 1874, Mrs. B. was intensely interested in them. She would come
and stay for hours asking questions and discuss the different ideas
with others who were there for the same purpose: for none of us,
not even our friends, had any explanations for the phenomena.
I think it was during the same summer I went with Mrs. B. to
some graduating exercises at a private school in Oakland. The
rooms became warm and close, so Mrs. B. and I went out into the
* While the liability of distortion, exaggeration, displacement and accom-
modation in the memories of certain types of persons can hardly be over-
rated, the editor has become convinced that this liability is small with persons
of dear, matter-of-fact intellects and orderly processes of thinking, and that
the tendency with them is in the contrary direction so far as “ psychical " inci-
dents are concerned; that through the corrosive effect of inner criticism the
incidents tend to lose color and detail in their memories.
But the chief reason for printing these incidents is that the psychical
powers of Miss Clarke may possibly have had some relation to the physical
phenomena recorded in the Proceedings. — Ed.
458 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
yard where the air, the flowers and the shrubbery were very re-
freshing. Of course, Mrs. B. was curious to hear all she could
about the " affair ” at our house, and asked me many questions. At
last, she said : “ Nell ! I tell you what we will do, whichever one of
us dies first, promise to come back to the other, that is, if it is
possible."
Neither of us knew anything about Spiritualism and I was
neither interested, nor thoughtful of any of these subjects. Indeed
I did not recall the incident until the phenomena I am about to relate
occurred. I cannot give the exact date. As nearly as I can remem-
ber, it must have been two or three years later.
Mrs. B. had been in delicate health for several years. Her
physicians disagreed as to the cause and though not confined to the
sick room she was very miserable. When at last she was stricken
with her last illness, she was under nurses’ and doctors’ care for
several months.
The most intimate relation existed between Mrs. B. and my
mother, and often during this time mother would leave her own
family and spend days at the B. home which was several miles from
where we then lived. It was one day after mother had spent a few
days at the B. home, she came home one evening quite encouraged
about Mrs. B.’s condition. They had asked the physician and with
his consent they were making plans to have her take a trip across
the continent as far as New York, thinking the change and the
journey would restore her to health. Mrs. B. was in the best of
spirits and they had been very jolly talking over the trip together.
We were all happy over the news that evening.
The following morning while I was dressing, our front door bell
rang. The door of my bedroom up-stairs was open into the hall at
the head of the stairway and I heard our Chinaman answer the bell
and open the front door at the end of the long hall down-stairs. I
was at the extreme end of my large square room and turned to listen,
looking toward my open door into the hall. As I did so Mrs. B.
walked into the room through the door across to where I was stand-
ing. As she approached I heard her say distinctly : “ Let one most
loving of you all say : not a tear must o’er her face. He giveth his
beloved sleep.”
Then, for it all happened quickly, I stepped forward to my door,
some one was coming rapidly up the stairs to the first landing. There
Incidents.
459
was an abrupt turn in the stair, so that it was impossible for me to
see this person, or the front door from my room. When I reached
my door, mother who had come out of her own room into the
upper hall was standing at the head of the stairs and Mrs. B.’s
young daughter was on the first landing coming up. Mother turned
to me and said : “ Mrs. B. died in the night.”
Some years afterward I met her eldest daughter in a far distant
state. She was at that time an agnostic. I told her of this incident.
“ It is strange,” she said, “ those were the very words I telegraphed
Papa, when I received the news of mother’s death. Of course, I
cannot believe you really saw Mamma, but if I should ever lose any
of my family I would investigate Spiritualism."
After this for several years I saw [her] and heard Mrs. B.’s
voice speaking very plainly, and each time she would demonstrate
her strong individual traits, so that, though always taken by sur-
prise and unexpectedly, I never doubted her personality.
Helen J. Clarke.
460 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
MISCELLANEOUS COINCIDENCES.
The following incidents were written to me on the date of
February 18th, 1911. I had written Miss Clarke a series of
questions regarding the record of physical phenomena mentioned
above. I had not heard from the lady for a number of years
and I did not know where she was. I ascertained her address
after some inquiries at an old address of a friend in New Jersey.
In the course of her letter she remarked a coincidence or two
connected with the report which I was about to publish and about
which she knew nothing at the time. It seems she was several
times on the point of writing to me when my letter came. After
giving the circumstances which showed the coincidence she went
on to narrate the following incidents which were of old standing
and so not recorded before. — J. H. H.
I have had many really remarkable experiences along these lines
and have never yet found a physician who would question my sanity.
Whatever comes to me has always come spontaneously and
usually for some purpose. I am always surprised and usually say
nothing about it to any one. I have never sought advice or informa-
tion other than the usual human reasonable methods. Here is one
instance.
Eight years ago in San Francisco I had serious trouble with my
left eye. I was working very hard and under a great mental strain
during this time. For eight months I went every day, sometimes
twice a day, to our oculists. There were consultations, etc. Both
physicians are prominent in their profession. I was in great danger,
it seems, of losing my eye. I have never been able to see much with
it since, but it is not disfigured and has given me trouble only once
since.
Last March or April the eye troubled me as it had at first. Our
physician here advised me to consult our oculist. I was two weeks
in San Francisco under the care of my old oculist and returned
quite comfortable. The last of June the same symptoms began to
return and by July 1 was suffering constant pain in the eye, so much
so that I had quite decided to go again to San Francisco and stay
under the oculist’s care until it was well.
Incidents.
461
The morning of July 4th I awakened with intense pain in that
eye. I arose and was on my feet when an audible voice distinctly
said : “ The trouble is here and not in your eye ; use hot salt and
water! ” At the same moment I pressed my forefinger hard on a
small sore spot on my left side near the back, which hurt me so badly
that I shrieked aloud. I had not before been conscious of any sore-
ness anywhere about my person. I looked at the clock. It was just
half past four A. M. It surprised me so greatly that I heated some
water on the gas heater in the kitchen and obeyed orders. Ten min-
utes after the hot water and salt were applied to this spot in my side
the pain left my eye and has never returned.
The following day I saw my physician, one of the best in town,
and told him as I have you. He laughed and said : “ I bet I can
find that spot,” and he did, just as I had done. “ Continue the hot
applications ” and said : “ We will treat this scientifically.” He gave
roe a series of X-ray electric treatments for that side and I have
had no further trouble. After a thorough examination he told, me,
so far as he could see, there is absolutely no organic trouble. I
think he was disappointed.
In September, 1884, I was in Belfast, Maine. Our family were
in perfect health, living in San Francisco, that is, so far as I knew.
The evening of September 4th, I was standing in my room, which
was lighted, combing my hair before the glass. I was unusually well
and happy, having spent a very pleasant evening with friends. As I
stood there a voice perfectly distinct repeated that verse, " Pure re-
ligion and undefiled before God and the Father is to visit widows,
etc.” I remember I turned half round and said, almost laughing,
“ This is no time for preaching, old man.” The next morning at
eleven o’clock, Belfast time, I received a telegram from San Fran-
cisco saying my father died of typhoid fever September 4th and
would be buried that day at eleven o'clock. It was so sudden that
many of his friends did not know of his death for months after-
wards. He had always been a man of unusual strong health and
cheerfulness.
When these voices come to me it is always something important
for me to know, and they are as clear and plain as any human voice.
I have never connected any voice with any personality, you under-
stand. It is unexpected and always means something.
Helen J. Clarke.
462 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
BOOK REVIEWS.
Studies in Contemporary Metaphysics. By R. F. Hoernle, Assistant
Professor of Philosophy in Harvard University. Harcourt, Brace &
Howe, New York, 1920. Pp. viii-341.
If the general public should take a sudden interest in metaphysical
speculation, I guess that journalists and publicists would write books on
philosophy as Mr. Hoernle wrote his. Every chapter treats of some
subject vast enough to fill the life of a constructive philosopher with
prospects of researches, and there are ten chapters ! We get the im-
pression that Mr. Hoernle did not want his notes on his readings to be
lost to mankind, and, indeed, taking this book as a compendium, which
spares reading, you will appreciate it, if you apply to these summaries
the criticism that should be applied to the original works. The author,
more faithful to the letter of his title than its spirit, lias simply made an
academic digest of them. His own intervention consists of suggesting
proportionings, recipes for blending opposed theories and utilizing what
seems good to him in their divergent views. When he gets himself out
of the transcriptions of his notes, and speaks on his own part, he sets
to find out if x% of this theory and y% of that one would not do.
Nevertheless there is an ample proof throughout the book that the
writer is a scholar far above his own work, but precisely this justifies
some severity from the critic. Here is another defect: one would
think, on account of the style, the images and comparisons used, that the
aim is to afford an easy access to philosophical problems to the unin-
itiated. But this is only an appearance — a bad habit due to teaching —
for numerous are the places where such people would be utterly lost,
and which presuppose that the reader is a specialist; but how tedious
to him the remaining elaboration, for he will be the only one to ever
go through these pages. It is like the lesson conducted by a teacher
when the headmaster, some trustees and college professors are attend-
ing: into his wording, supposedly meant for the children in front, he slips
things which can be appreciated only by the authorities and changes the
lesson into a puerile recitation for these learned persons. This is not
to be confounded with true popularization : for popularization must never
pass over the heads of the people for whom it is intended and who are
supposed not to know the particular technique of the science dealt with ;
it requires from the scientist a real writing ability, for both thought and
wording must be recast anew, and worked out as is done by the novelist
or dramatist with his material. But this is not at all Mr. Hoemle's con-
tention. We shall omit details. A striking feature of his studies is the
opposition of extreme types of thought. These types are as old as hu-
man thought; they are of common knowledge; it is of little use to draw
again and again the picture of their absolute contradiction, which is an
abstract and schematic matter. The true object of a useful treatment
is to unearth the links which fasten a theory to its author, and its
epoch, and try to locate it in the genealogy of Thought I
While Mr. Hoernle's treatment is superficial, the planning of it de-
Book Reviews.
463
serves some praise for its logical composition. Psychic researchers will
be pleased to see that he does not dodge the psychic data which he
could not help encountering in his path. It is a sort of “ political ’’ sat-
isfaction for them to find these two pages on psychic problems by a pro-
fessor in charge. His attitude is sympathetic but extremely cautious.
His mentioning does not give an adequate account of the complexity of
the matter touched on. He notes that “ the telepathy-hypothesis has not
been finally disposed of, though it is certainly becoming strained,” which
is true. But considerations on the doubtful value of the spirit-hypothesis
either for religion or the consolation of the sorrowing survivors are
irrelevant; the question is: Are there such beings as spirits or not?
The fact that there are “ different estimations by different observers ”
is really more striking in philosophical fields than in scientific psychical
research. It is surprising that Mr. Hoernle does not see that spirits of
obscure persons would likely furnish better evidence for establishing
their identity than " well-known men ” of whom so much might normally
be known to the medium. Again, with respect to the fact that “ the in-
vestigator’s inclination toward spirits or telepathy [is] in part deter-
mined by what he would prefer to believe or not to believe ” philosoph-
ers have no advantage over psychical researchers. This point is never
raised in philosophical discussions because what makes some one believe
is unimportant, but one’s arguments for believing are carefully consid-
ered: why not the same for psychic research?
We must regret indeed that Mr. Hoernle has not assimilated his in-
formation, either psychic or philosophical. For his point of view is
very sound and he is proficient in classifying. But his only firm basis
is a rather formalistic notion of classical abstract Science, and his guid-
ance a steady ” saving of appearances,” while he docs not dominate his
matter. Is philosophy to be satisfied with snappy and immature pro-
duction? Mr. Hoernle has contributed to philosophical literature but
not to philosophy. Me. Denkinger.
The Living Jesus, the Words of Jesus of Nasarcth, Uttered through the
Medium. By Frederick A. Wiccin. Geo. Sully and Co., New York,
1921. Pp. xliii, 213.
This book claims exactly what its title implies, that it contains com-
munications from Jesus Christ through Mr. Wiggin, who conducts a
Spiritualistic church in Boston. It is an insult to intelligence and to
the veneration which most men in and out of the church, even Renan
and Ingersoll, have felt and feel toward Jesus. If its ignorant and
pompous contents were not offensive they would be amusing. A few
specimens will suffice.
Joseph, husband of Mary, is said to have been a “ priest from time to
time." (p. 35.)
A variant of the apocryphal tale about the boy Jesus making clay
pigeons fly is solemnly related as fact. The original may be found in
the ancient “ Thomas’s Gospel of the Infancy,” chapter I.
Another story is borrowed from the spurious “ First Gospel of the
Infancy,” chapter XVI, namely that about the boy Jesus widening the
throne which Joseph had made too short. But in the ancient version
to which credit is not given, the throne was for the “ King of Jeru-
464 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
salem,’’ while in Wiggin’s pseudo gospel it was “ a sort of ecclesiastical
throne ” for “ a little church ” ! (45-46)
Our new apocrypha states that at the age of twelve, by “ levitation,"
Jesus was taken from Jerusalem to Egypt in about three hours (it
must have surprised people on the road), was levitated back after six
years for the short period of thirty-six hours, then levitated again to
the Egyptian teachers “ with whom he had been during the seven years
of his absence.” No explanation of the mathematical mystery involved
is vouchsafed. (61-62)
As the last statement favors Blavatsky so does the following seem to
imbibe from Mrs. Eddy: “I would rather teach humanity the laws of
health, just now, than any other one thing.” (53)
Wiggin’s Jesus overestimates the time elapsed since his crucifixion.
“ Between two and three thousand years I have trave’lcd the hilltops
of the spiritual world.” (27) Travelling the hill tops for so long a
period reminds me of a sentence which I once found in the letter of
an aspiring lady : “ O that I could be a missionary upon some lonely
roountaintop !’’
Here is a gem of philological lore : “ The word pitris is rather more
of the Orient than of the Occident. It really is a very prominent word,
or rather, it has been in times gone by [perhaps in the lost Atlantis],
and the meaning of it is, as perhaps all of you know, “ Spiritual an-
cestry.” (21-23) That “perhaps all of you know” is really delicious.
So also is the sentence: “There is a Latin phrase familiar to all, vox
dei, vox populi" [sic], with the assurance that the converse is also
true. " Pitris,” by the way, is an anagram of “ spirit.”
The pseudo-Jesus at one meeting said, through " Dr. Wiggin,” "...
for a pence — what do you call yours ? [here someone replied “ cent ”]
— for a cent.” There is the queer assumption that the word pence in
the King James Bible would be familiar to Jesus, though he needed to
be told the word cent. And a pence !”
Many quotations from the Authorized Version of the Gospels give
a flavor of verisimilitude, but are in striking contrast with the new utter-
ances. Odd that the alleged speaker could remember his olden utter-
ances as found in a translation made 1500 years after his death, but
could not add anything new in the same style.
“ Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,”
“ Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest,” “ Behold I stand at the door and knock ” — these and many
other quotations made from the gospels we recognize in their luminous
simplicity, the music of their perfect style. Imagine the author of such
sentences going on to say : “ For that boy never could have become the
man that he was later, had it not been for this wonderful, marvellous,
constant, psychological spirituality, in the midst of which he lived
even as a thought before he lived as a physical expression.” (37)
“ Thought gathers the material and properly co-ordinates it into dress,
for spirits are clothed upon, and in the spiritual kingdom there is
recognized the necessity of such an assemblage of things as will make
for the body clothing, for none in the spiritual world is allowed to
live undressed.” (186-187) Presumably, then, if a spirit ever dares to
take off his clothes for a moment, he is annihilated. — W. F. P.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOCIETY
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc,), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and clairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of “ mediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering thereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
ASSOCIATES have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal, and of consulting the Library. The annual fee is
$5.00. A person may become a LIFE ASSOCIATE by the payment of
$100.00.
MEMBERS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal and Proceedings, and of consulring the Library. The
annual fee is $10.00, A person may become a LIFE MEMBER by the
payment of $200.00.
FELLOWS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
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FELLOW by the payment of $500.00.
PATRONS have all the privileges of the Society, those above named
and such as shall hereafter accrue, and are constituted such for life by
the payment of $1,000.
FOUNDERS have the privileges of the Society, those already enumer-
ated and such as shall hereafter accrue, and become such for life by the
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ALL MEMBERSHIPS date from January 1st, though persons who
join in November or December will receive the Journals of those
months free.
Contributions for or communications regarding the contents of the
Journal, also reports and letters relating to psychical experiences and
investigations should be directed to DR. WALTER F. PRINCE. Editor
and Principal Research Officer. Business and general correspondence
should be addressed to GERTRUDE O. TUBBY, Secretary.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices. 44 East 23rd St.. New York, N. Y.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
*
The American Society for Psychical Research, Inc., was incorporated
under tht Laws of New York in 1904 under the name of American Insti-
tute for Scientific ResedVch, for the purpose of carrying; on and endowing
investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-therapeutics.
It is supported by contributions from its members and an endowment
fund which now exceeds $225,000. The income of the Society only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Society
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Society is perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Society for Psychical Research, Inc., whether to the uses of
psychical research or psycho-therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The
form which such dedication should take when made by will is indicated
in the following condensed draft.
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL
RESEARCH, Inc.
" I give, devise and bequeath to the American Society for Psychical
Research, Inc., a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, the
sum of... dollars,* in trust for the corporate purposes of
such Society.”
* In case the bequest ia real estate, or other specific Items of property, they should be
sufficiently described for identification.
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
• ~ - - . ■ n ■ i
Volume XVI. September, 1922 No. 9
CONTENTS
- ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
The Fish Analog Again 405
Contributors 407
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Science and Psychic Research. By James H. Hyslop . . 468
Mediumship and the Criminal Law. By Blewett Lee . . 486
Notes From Periodicals. By George H. Johnson . . . 502
INCIDENTS:
Dream Coinciding With External Facts ..... 508
C ON VE R SAZIONE :
Psychical Researchers vs. Spiritualists ...... 513
BOOK REVIEWS:
Elements of Psychical Phenomena (Helen C. Lambert); Spirit-
ualism: (Huntley Carter); Activism (Henry L. Eno). 518
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. $6 Annually. Abroad £1. Is. SO cents a copy.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 29rd St.. New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company. York, Pa., to which send changes of address.
Entered as second-class matter, July 10, 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March S, 1979. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of pottage provided for
in Section 1109, Act of October 9, 1917, authorised April 97, 1929.
John
Weston 4
Titus Buli
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby ....Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDougall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex-officio. Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D.,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D, Lcland
Stanford Jr. University.
Chables L. Dana, M.D., LL.D, Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D, New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D, Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D, San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M, Smith Col
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, F.A.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S, LL.B,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Princb. M.D, LL.D, Boston.
Mass. *
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D , Bos-
ton. Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Henry Holt.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. George H. Hyslop. M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D. Lawson Purdy.
Miles M. Dawson.
l!Jn? gnu'
M68I0U TV
VOLUME XVI— No. 9
SEPTEMBER, 19M
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Paoi
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT 405
OENERAL ARTICLES:
Science end Psychic Research. By
Janie* H. Hyalop .... 40B
Mediumtbip and the Criminal Law.
By Blewett Lee .... 480
Note* From Periodical,
Johnson • . •
Pa«1
By George H.
. . . 508
INCIDENTS :
• • . 508
CONVERSAZIONE: .
. 518
BOOK RBVIEW8 :
. . . 518
The responsibility lor statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer’s true name
la withheld, it is preserved on file, and is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
The Fish Analogy Again.
Mrs. Mary L. Inman, of New York City, one day brought in
the following fable on the same theme treated in a similar way
with that of Clarence Day, Jr., printed in the Jourtial of Novem-
ber, 1920, which, however, she had never seen.
If any attempts are being made to explain to us the nature of
life in a world of spirits, both skits may well illustrate the difficul-
ties in the way of making the description intelligible.
So many people ask why spirits do not tell us more about their
life in the superior world.
Well, yesterday I was sitting by a pond, and looking down
into the water I saw a fish. The creature had an inquiring look in
his eye, and I wondered if he might be wondering what sort of a
being I was and what I did with mysel f all the time I wasn’t sit-
ting there looking at him, and how I could sustain my life anyway
outside of the water which was so necessary to his existence. So
I decided to tell him a few things.
" Fish,” I said. “ It is wonderful out here in the air. We see
such a lot of beautiful things that are invisible to you.” He
seemed interested. " What are they ? ” he queried. “ Why,” I
466 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
answered, “ mountains, forests, birds “ Hold on a min-
ute,” cried the Fish, “ what is a mountain? — What is a bird? —
Are they to eat like worms and flies ? ” “ No, no,” I answered,
beginning to feel some contempt for him as he apparently thought
only of his stomach. “ Let me tell you, a mountain is a fine big
quantity of earth rising up in the air — like a big hill, you know.”
“ I do not know what a hill is,” he said. “ Oh, well, you know
what earth is like. You have it at the bottom of the pond. Now,
just imagine a great quantity of that built up into a beautiful, ir-
regular shape.” “ Very well, I am imagining it, but what is beau-
tiful about that? I think it would be ugly and hard to swim
around.” “ True, we find it hard sometimes to get over or around
them, but, my dear Fish, just think how wonderful they look on a
soft, warm summer day, enveloped in veil upon veil of varying
shades of blue, or topped with big, billowy, silver-white clouds
against the deep indigo sky.” “ What are clouds, what ir sky ?
Why in the water don't you speak intelligibly so that a sensible
fish can understand you! — Now, what is a bird? ” “ A bird is —
well, it is a small thing something like yourself, only not so flat.
It has wings corresponding to your fins and they sustain and
propel him as he passes through the air." “Air! He moves
through the air on wings? Why that is bosh. The thing’s im-
possible.” “ Oh, no, not when you understand all the conditions.
— And it isn’t only the beautiful sights we see, but we also have
delightful music up here which you never hear down under the
water. It fills your soul with bliss or sadness unspeakable, lifts
you to heights undreamed of by ordinary mortals, makes you feel
the divine harmony underlying all creation. It makes you under-
stand for a moment all the sorrows of the world and all the joys
of Heaven.” “ Something like when one gets a good, fat worm
with no hook in it, I suppose,” said the fish, with the nearest ap-
proach to understanding that he had yet shown, — but, oh, how
far even now ! However, I persevered :
“ Then there are the exquisite joys of conversation among
people of like mind, the flash of wit, the warm glow of sympa-
thetic feeling, the intuitive understanding of an unspoken word.
We have the pleasures of the expanding intellect, the gradual
learning of life's great and saving truths, the dissemination of
knowledge, love and friendship — .” I paused, for I could see the
fish was growing impatient. “ I perceive now that you are talking
sheer gibberish, words that have no meaning," he remarked petu-
lantly. “ You give so poor an account of yourself that I doubt
every word you have said. I think you are a trickster, a make-
Announcement and Comment.
467
believe, a mountebank! All I can see of you is a light -colored
smudge above the surface of the water, and upon my soul, I do
not believe you even exist ! ”
Wherewith he flirted his tail scornfully at me, and swam away
to the opposite side of the pond where a man sat patiently holding
a well-baited line, waiting for a hungry fish to come his way.
Sir William Crookes ( Proceedings of S. P. R., XII, 344-
347) has gone farther, and shown that a man, provided that he
were a homunculus or a Brobdingnagian, would necessarily en-
tertain convictions regarding the physics of this planet in many
respects differing from those with which we are familiar, and
has pointed out that “ our boasted knowledge ” may be “ simply
conditioned by accidental environments, and thus be liable to a
large element of subjectivity, hitherto unsuspected and hardly
possible to eliminate.”
Contributors.
Blewett Lee, a native of Mississippi, is a son of Lieutenant
General Stephen D. Lee, of the Confederate Army. He received
the degree of Bachelor of Science from the Agricultural and Me-
chanical College of Mississippi, studied in the University of Vir-
ginia, became Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws of Harvard
in 1888, and studied in the University of Leipzig and Freiburg.
Afterwards he was Private Secretary to Justice Horace Gray, of
the Supreme Court of the United States, and thereafter Professor
of Law in Northwestern University from 1893 to 1901. Since
then he has engaged in the practice of law and has been a frequent
contributor to legal periodicals.
Prescott F. Hall, deceased in 1921, received the degrees of
A. B. and LL. B. from Harvard University, and practiced law in
Boston from 1892 until his death. He was the author of a num-
ber of works on law and immigration, and the contributor
to reviews on legal and economic subjects. He wrote “ Experi-
ments with Mrs. Caton ” ( Proceedings , VIII, 1-151), edited
"The Harrison Case” ( Proceedings , XIII, 285-477) and fur-
nished a number of articles and reviews to the Journal.
468 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
SCIENCE AND PSYCHIC RESEARCH.
By James H. Hyslop.
There is much misunderstanding in various quarters regarding
the relation between “ science ” and psychic research, and conse-
quently much useless controversy. The conflict rests upon diver-
gent conceptions of “science” and to some extent also of
“ psychic research.” Men are tolerably clear as to the subject
matter of psychic research, tho they differ in their attitude of
mind toward it. But there is a certain fringe of implication in
the terms, or the alleged phenomena, that causes the dispute. This
fringe is the residuum of historical associations centering in the
old controversy regarding the “ supernatural.” In a past age
both parties accepted a definition of the supernatural which easily
excited radical differences of opinion as to the processes of nature.
But in spite of this they did not escape the necessity of facing
certain exceptional facts in the cosmic order, and it would have
saved much heated and useless discussion, if they had remained
by the facts instead of trying either to vindicate the authority of
tradition or to defend the sufficiency of a limited experience to
explain the whole of nature.
Now psychic research is not bound by any traditional concep-
tions of the supernatural or by any limitations of experience arbi-
trarily imposed. It will concede all you like regarding the defini-
tion of the supernatural and fall back upon certain verifiable facts
which have to be explained and which cannot be reduced either by
classification or causal explanation to the orthodox limits of ex-
perience. Suffice it to say that psychic research insists on the
existence of certain facts not within the range of ordinary causes,
whether or not the unusual causes can be determined. It merely
asserts that we have transcended normal experience as that has
hitherto been defined and it awaits solution of the problems in-
volved. Any solution will mean either a modification of existing
ideas or a totally new conception of nature. Psychic research can
calmly await the decision of its critics. At some point they must
surrender, and it matters not whether they persist in the use of
Science and Psychic Research. 469
orthodox language or accept the heterodox conceptions of the
psychic researchers. The facts of psychic research have been won
and that is more than half the battle.
But the more serious source of misunderstanding and compli-
cation is in regard to the conception of science and of its method.
There is here a source of real difference of conception, one that
has much excuse for its existence and which shows the need of
calm investigation and conciliation. It will not be easy to make it
clear because it is so complicated and because the various problems
in the field of science have brought it into contact with issues
which it was not its primary claim to solve.
What we call “ science ” received the heritage of ancient phil-
osophy and, whether rightly or wrongly, became chiefly interested
in the explanation of all things. But its break with the methods
of antiquity and tradition introduced into its method a new factor
which had not specially occupied the ancient mind. I refer to
evidential problems as distinct from the explanatory, compre-
hended in the various forms of causes. Moreover the situation of
thought at the time that science revived had an influence in de-
termining the field of its operations, more especially in limiting it
to physical phenomena, a limitation which is reflected in contro-
versy of the present day.
Intellectual and practical situations often have as much to do
with the definition of terms as the facts which they are supposed
to name or indicate. It was the conflict between science and relig-
ion that did as much, perhaps more than anything else, to limit
the meaning of the word “ science.” Moreover that conflict is
not of modern origin. It has subsisted wherever there has been
a difference of interests in the phenomena of nature. The scien-
tific mind, in antiquity the philosopher, has always indicated a
preference for the uniformities of nature and the religious mind
for the exceptions and the so-called miraculous. Law is the idol
of one and the unusual that of the other. When modem science
arose, it did not lose the patrimony which the past had given it.
The religious mind had passionately devoted itself to the miracu-
lous which it embodied in the idea of a Supreme Intelligence di-
recting the cosmos at its will. It was so powerful that science had
to display some humility in claiming to investigate the cosmic
order at all. It obtained liberty to do so only on the avowal of
470 Journal of* the American Society for Psychical Research.
not intending to assault religion. Whatever of conflict actually
existed, this had to be disguised or concealed. It obtained a grant
of territory on the condition that it remained only in the field of
physics, and this had a tendency to define both its dominion and
its method.
The first great incursion on theological beliefs was Copemican
astronomy, not the Reformation. Ptolemaic astronomy had in-
trenched itself in the theological scheme of salvation and could
not be disturbed as long as the priesthood controlled human be-
liefs. Copernicus first disturbed this system, but was not strong
enough in his time to save himself from persecution or the neces-
sity of recanting the doctrine. It triumphed in time, however,
and the effect was to dissolve the cohesion between astronomic
and theological dogma. This step once taken was the entering
wedge against the scholastic system. The Reformation pushed it
into the domain of theology and later developments extended it
over the whole field of religious thought. But the inception of
science, in order to secure any rights of investigation at all, con-
fined its territory to the study of physical phenomena and limited
its methods to those suitable for the investigation of such phe-
nomena. That is, science and the study of physical phenomena
became convertible terms. This conception of it still prevails in
many quarters.
It was only when method became a determinant factor in the
definition of the subject, as against mere physical content or terri-
tory, that the idea of science was extended to comprehend other
than physical phenomena. But in the first stages of its evolution
it was limited to the field of physics, and this predetermined the
method of investigation. This was the method of sense percep-
tion as opposed to philosophical speculation. It was empirical as
opposed to speculative, a posteriori as opposed to a priori, induct-
ive as opposed to deductive procedure. Sense perception became
established as the criterion of truth.
The first consequence, perhaps corollary of this position, was
the exaltation of the evidential question as distinct from that con-
cerning the nature of things. No more important idea ever seized
human reflection. The ancient philosopher, except in the never-
victorious schools of scepticism, was confident of the power of the
human mind summarily to solve all its problems and the audacious
Science and Psychic Research.
471
systems of a priori speculation illustrated and apparently con-
firmed that assurance. When it was not reason it was faith and
when it was not faith it was reason that maintained this pre-
sumption. Both reason and faith felt sure of the explanation of
things, and only the revival of scepticism emboldened the human
mind to abandon its assurance about the nature of things and to
insist on the study of the facts even if compelled to be content
with the laws of phenomena as distinct from their causes. Scepti-
cism led direct to the question of evidence and minimized the
explanation of things.
The very necessities of the case made the study of the physical
world depend on sensation and sense perception. The physical
world offered no other means of access to its existence or its
nature. We had no evidence for its existence except sensation
and hence the method of studying it was a foregone conclusion.
This limitation of method must not be forgotten and it has tran-
scendent importance in measuring the nature of human knowledge
when it becomes a dogmatic limitation on human beliefs. Human
nature does not lose its confidence in its powers simply because
the exigencies of investigation transfer its allegiance from specu-
lation to sensory processes. Nor does it lose any of the disposi-
tion to trust the new method as it did the old one. It simply ex-
changes one idol for another and the outcome is only the adoption
of a more limited faith instead of the one that had appealed so
effectively to the imagination.
There were important subsidiary influences moving in the
same direction. The conflict between reason and faith was a con-
flict between certitude and hope. Faith had insisted on certain
doctrines which were the basis of hope, especially in regard to the
immortality of the soul. But the mind that sought certitude easily
attacked the confidence that rested on faith. The latter played the
ambiguous role of sustaining the most certain and the most doubt-
ful of human dogmas, and reason sought to establish a foundation
for certitude, and for« long time ignored the basis of sense per-
ception. Scholastic philosophy terminated, in this matter, in the
Cartesian position that the only ultimate certitude was in self-
consciousness and this limited its area to subjective mental states.
Hence the logical sequel in idealism. But the human mind cannot
long be forced to distrust sense perception. It will first apply
472 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
scepticism to philosophy and its peculiar method of introspection
and speculation. In this situation science came forth with a de-
fence of sense perception as the criterion of certitude, at least of
things physical, and the physical world became the primary object
of interest for both speculative and practical reasons, the former
for explaining the cosmos and the latter for the exploitation of
nature in behalf of human utilities. It was evident that introspec-
tion could not determine the laws of nature, of the external world,
there was revolt against incertitudes and dreamy speculations of
the philosophic and religious minds, and the way was opened for
stressing a form of certitude which the majority of mankind
would not question and which the philosophic mind could not
safely gainsay. This was reliance upon sensation as the criterion
of truth. Just in what sense or under what limitations such a
position is defensible will be taken up presently. For the moment
we are concerned only with the evolution of the idea.
The importance of all this will be seen when we come to view
its complications and its limitations. But both considerations
tended to define the area and method of science and so to exclude
the consideration of other problems, whether they were im-
portant or not. It is stated in the philosophy of Kant that one of
the fundamental questions of reason is: " What can we know? ”
To make this question clear it should be stated in another way :
“ What can we be certain of ? ” This was what Kant meant and
it was substantially the question of Descartes when he raised the
issue of the possibility of universal doubt and found that this was
not conceivable as long as self-consciousness existed. “ What do
we know? ” is merely to ask “ What propositions can have certi-
tude? ’’ To ask that question was to suggest uncertainty regard-
ing many which scholasticism had regarded as indisputable.
Now when physical science started on its inquiries it could not
escape deciding, consciously or unconsciously, on some measure of
certitude in its work. Instead of “ What is the nature of that
which is?” it began to ask “What is?” And as the material
world could be known only through sensation it found in this its
only security for knowledge of the physical world. Religion, on
the other hand, had maintained another source of truth ; namely,
faith, and this stood for knowledge of or belief in the existence of
a transcendental or supersensible world. So long as it was cer-
Science and Psychic Research. 473
tain, or felt certain, that a supersensible world existed as the
object of faith or some inner intuition, there was no dangerous
rival in physical science. Moreover the latter was tactful enough
not to assert at first that the physical world was the limit of human
knowledge. It accorded a field of belief outside its domain, but
strictly confined its own investigations to the world of sense per-
ception, perhaps making no inquiries into the implications of sen-
sation and perception which represented experience. It was con-
tent to remain on the level of uncritical methods about sensation
and its meaning. Hence physical science without any critical ex-
amination of its criterion of truth adopted sense perception as the
basis of its knowledge and refused to meddle with speculations
beyond this territory. It only gradually usurped the whole field
of human knowledge, as its conquests in the physical world gave
it confidence to extend its claims. When theology began to lose
its hold on the situation physical science became more bold and
from a suppliant for existence and freedom, it became a claimant
for the sovereignty of the world and won this by virtue of its con-
quests over nature. With this went the extension of its criterion
of truth and from conceding a field for faith it began to relegate
such a source of belief to the limbo of superstitions or to confine
it to the mere possibilities of transcendental existence.
There was another and little remarked feature of this stage
in the evolution of scientific thought. It is found in the adoption
of a new gauge of communicable knowledge. Earlier ages al-
ways assumed that any knowledge or belief held by a person could
easily be communicated to another. Language was supposed to
be an easy vehicle for this transmission and only the subtlest
minds realized that language is a very limited instrument. It is
not enough to have knowledge, nor is it enough to have language.
You require also insight in the person with whom intercourse is
held in order to communicate with him. This insight depends on
the extent of his experience with the same matters. That is, the
communication of knowledge is wholly conditioned upon the ex-
istence of the same experience in another as in yourself. Lang-
uage conveys knowledge only when the hearer has had the proper
experience for its interpretation. Visual ideas cannot be conveyed
to hearing and vice versa. We can understand only in terms of
our experience and hence communication is conditioned upon this.
474 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Now faith and intuition are inner functions of mind. Their
objects had to be transformed into sensory analogies before any
rational intercourse about them was possible. There was no direct
test of these objects in the field of sense perception, at least no
recognized test of this kind. Agreement in anything was possible
only within the field of the will or behavior. Ideas could not be
conveyed bodily and when the subject did not have faith or intu-
ition there was no hope of suggesting common conceptions.
Here physical science had an immense advantage. It is cer-
tain that there is a vast difference between the communicability
of sense knowledge and beliefs about the supersensible. The
common basis of both of them may be considered again, but it will
be conceded by all intelligent people that sense experience is the
only vehicle of communication between us in our common inter-
course. Even ideas of the supersensible have to be embodied in
sensory analogies as a condition of talking about them at all.
Whatever is possible in the field of intercommunication about a
transcendental world, it is rare, shadowy and faint in comparison
with the universal and comparatively easy mode of transmission
in terms of sense experience. Thus physical science had a great
leverage in its appeal to sense experience both for the acquisition
and for the transmission of human knowledge. It had the com-
mand of the world at once. What it had to say could be easily and
intelligibly expressed and the largest number of persons could be
made to see its acquisitions.
Both the method founded on sense perception, and the com-
municability of its results began to be powerful against mere
authority. Sage and priest had equally assumed the perfect com-
municability of truth and so the non-necessity of experience as
condition of reception of either knowledge or salvation. More-
over, the action of the will constricted by the application of
force. But after science got its recognition freedom of action
came and authority began to decline. Science appealed to experi-
ence, to sense perception, and limited the communicability of
truth or knowledge, and thus became a great democratizing
agency. Knowledge could be obtained only by experience and
could not be communicated at all. The conveyance or transmis-
sion of it was only apparent. What was called this was only a
modified form of experience, as the subject of its reception
Science and Psychic Research.
475
through language had to have sufficient personal experience, com-
mon experience, to make the transmission intelligible. This trans-
mission as well as the original experience depended on sense per-
ception. Hence the method of investigating nature which had
been the first condition of success in doing it : namely sensation,
became the fundamental postulate of science itself. That is to say,
the test of truth as well as the origin of it became sense perception.
Simultaneously with this development there went a tendency
to minimize the importance of the nature of the world in compari-
son with the facts of experience. Older speculation had based
everything on certain assumptions about the nature of things and
neglected evidential problems. The new movement reversed the
process and emphasized the evidential, subordinating the explana-
tory. Everything, therefore, joined to make sense perception the
fundamental resource of truth and emphasized the responsibility
of the subject for its reception and application. The Protestant
Reformation, originating near the time of the scientific revival,
was but one step in this line of progress and did for theology
what Copernicus and others did for physical science. Personal
experience, not authority, became the basis of knowledge, and its
communication was dependent on this same resource. Thus
science could appeal to the simplest method for its claims and for
the extension of its power.
This discussion will enable me to formulate the principle on
which science proceeds in all its ramifications and which obligates
all men of this age to subject their statements to the fundamental
test of science for their credentials. Let me first state this prin-
ciple in its simplest form and then submit it to analysis and quali-
fication. Sensation is the evidence of all external reality , not a
presentation of its nature. There may be subjective truths, which
can neither be expressed in sensory experience nor communicated
by it. Hence I am careful to limit the application of the doctrine
to external reality and the sequel will show that it makes no differ-
ence what the kind of that reality, whether physical or super-
physical. What I am dealing with is reality external to the sub-
ject, not reality within that subject, and hence the criterion formu-
lated is for external or objective reality, not internal or subjective
existence.
But different forms of reality are discriminated as to their
476 Journal of the American. Society for Psychical Research.
nature by sensory experiences depending upon them. In a
schematic way their natures are betokened by sensory signs. Yes,
but there may lie back in these natures much which is not thus
revealed. Therefore the principle had better be stated thus : Indi-
vidual sensations are the evidence of objective reality, but are not
the measure of its nature.
This will be less disputable tho only because it aims to avoid
the misunderstandings lurking about the simpler statement. What
it all means is that I am emphasizing the evidential character of
sensation as against its explanatory function. The mediaeval
period did not like to admit this principle and evaded it and the
limitations which it imposed on speculation about the world.
Science brought us back to its fundamental character and made
it the keystone to its structure of knowledge, especially of all
knowledge that was in any way communicable from one person
to another. It might concede that subjective processes were the
first condition of knowledge, even in sense perception, as is the
fact, but it must contend that sense perception was the first con-
dition of transmitting or communicating it from one subject to
another, and in this it exalted sensation to the rank of authority
as means of determining objective truth. This objective truth or
knowledge was communicable truth and no other form of it could
be regarded as communicable. It might be experienced in the
subject, but it could not be transferred without sensation with all
the liabilities to which such a criterion is exposed.
It was all an outcome of the conflict between science and relig-
ion and in this hurly-burly of controversy science came out with
the measure of objective knowledge and so tended to define its
own nature and method by it, while the dogmatic nature of the
human mind tended to limit all knowledge whatsoever to the one
criterion which had been so fruitful in the study of objective
nature, the physical world. Science has as much tendency to in-
tolerance and dogmatism as religion. In fact it has never been
religion that was dogmatic, but won, and any trend of his thought
may be addicted to it. But once recognize two things and the
limits of dogmatism will be strictly defined. ( 1 ) That no knowl-
edge is possible except by means of subjective processes which
define and determine the insight into it, or the act of judgment by
which truth is seen and affirmed. (2) That scientific knowledge
Science and Psychic Research.
4 77
depends for its acceptance on sense perception and communicabil-
ity. The latter standard does not exclude the existence of sub-
jective knowledge, but it limits its communicability. Dogmatism
cannot extend itself from one field to the other as long as each
domain is strictly defined as indicated. The crux of the whole
matter is the condition of communicable truth. This is sensory
convertibility, whether by analogy or direct sense pictures, of
inner perceptions into some objective equivalent, so that the evi-
dential test may be applied for its transmission and perception by
the subject to which it is presented. The distinction, then, be-
tween knowledge and faith will be between objective and sub-
jective knowledge, the former communicable and the latter not
communicable, tho both depend on the personal realization in
consciousness for the ultimate criterion of validity or acceptance.
The former is scientific truth and the latter you may call what you
please. This is not limited to religious truth — that is, certain
dogmas — but includes all inner convictions which are not ap-
preciable to those who have not had the experience which con-
ditions their realization. No man can escape the responsibility of
seeing the truth, if it is to be truth or knowledge to him, and
hence the subjective factor is always the primary one in any
knowledge. That is why so many people instinctively emphasize
the need of “ personal experience ” in the formation of their ideas.
But the perception of truth is not convertible with its objectivity.
It can only be a truth for the person who sees it, unless it can be
communicated to another through the medium of sensation. It is
here, in the liabilities of caprice and illusion, that what I have
called subjective knowledge, perhaps Plato’s opinion, may expose
the mind to illusion. In fact it is the confusion of subjective
“ knowledge ” with objective “ knowledge ” that gives rise to all
our dogmatism, and it is here that science can offer an inestimable
service by limiting the rights of dogmatic knowledge to com-
municable truth. Science is an endeavor to determine the nature
and extent of communicable knowledge and defines both the area
of dogmatic truth and the method by which it is to be attained,
which is sensory experience. This is true, whatever place is
conceded to subjective judgment and functions.
Now let us examine more fully what is meant by regarding-
sensation as the evidence of objective reality and not the measure
478 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of its nature. The distinction is necessary in order to make allow-
ance for the degree of fixity in sensory experience and the liability
to variation in our conceptions of the nature of reality. The evi-
dence of a fact may not always represent its nature. For instance,
the eclipse of the moons of Jupiter is evidence for the undulatory
theory of light, but is not itself undulatory in nature. Tropisms
are evidence of the influence of light on the behavior of plants,
but they are not like the action of the sun. There may be in-
stances in which the evidence and the nature of a thing coincide
or are the same in kind, but this is not always true. Hence I am
here only trying to ascertain what the universal criterion of scien-
tific truth is, not necessarily all truth, but objective as distinct
from subjective truth. In so far as I have made sensory experi-
ence the evidence or criterion of objective knowledge I have made
it convertible with physical science in some way and this I am
willing to concede always, tho it be subject to the qualifications
which the complexity of any subject may impose. But physical
science, and I would say all science whatsoever, is based upon
sense perception as the evidence for its assertions and individual
sensations will not be the measure of the nature of objective real-
ity as any given datum of knowledge. This must be determined
by the co-ordination of experiences in terms of functions other
than sensory ones, tho they always accompany the sensory activi-
ties. I shall not enter into the discussion of them, as I am here
only concerned with the definition of scientific method and its rela-
tion to psychic research, which is no exception to scientific
procedure.
The source of confusion, therefore, between people is the
conflict between the test for objective and the test for subjective
certitude. Ultimately the test of all truth whatsoever must be in
the experience of the individual, personal realization in conscious-
ness. but this may not guarantee anything but subjective truth
which may not be communicable at all, while objective truth will
be communicable to the extent of common experiences in terms of
sensation. Objective truth is what we can prove and what we
can prove is what we can repeat in terms of sense experience and
make common property, to some extent at least. That is to say
science is an attempt to democratize knowledge, to escape the toils
of mere authority, and to effect this it has no other criterion than
Science and Psychic Research.
479
sense experience, tho this has to be accompanied by subjective
capacity to perceive the truth when presented.
Now it is important to show that sensation, while it is the evi-
dence of an external world and of all objective knowledge, does
not present the nature of this reality as identical with the experi-
ence. No doubt the terms “ nature of reality ” are equivocal and
perhaps that is the only reason that we have to draw the distinc-
tion between the evidence and the nature of things. Assuming,
however, in this discussion that the “ nature ” of a thing as associ-
ated with sensation is the evidence for its existence implies the
question whether the objective reality is pictured by the sensation.
This especially applies to visual experience, but the natural habit
of all minds is to take sensation or sense experience as correctly
presenting or representing objective reality. Indeed we may pos-
sibly go so far as to say that the very idea of sensation itself is an
abstraction and so more or less inferred, except in touch which
probably gives us the definite idea of what we mean by “ sensa-
tion.” In sight and hearing we are not aware of “ sensation ” as
a peripheral fact, that is, as a surface event. We rather think of
the percept as the external fact and sensation is inferred as a peri-
pheral event. In vision we are especially unaware of “ sensation ”
as a sensorial act or event and think only of the object. When we
learn that an image is on the retina we think of the image and
object as alike, the one at least a simulacrum of the other. But
sensation as a reaction against stimulus is not conceived, as a
general and abstract concept, to be representative of external real-
ity. We imagine some sort of antithesis between them, especially
that the reaction of one sense has no equivalent in the reaction of
another sense conceived as identical in nature.
But here is where we begin to get into the wilderness when we
talk about sensation, and it only shows how naive the physicist
often is when he seems to assume that sense perception has no
problems. But it is not necessary to solve all its perplexities to
vindicate the meaning of sensation as a datum of experience and
knowledge. What is certain is that, on any conception of it, sen-
sation is the response to a stimulus not ourselves and its occur-
rence is the evidence of foreign reality, and that it is a separate
problem to determine the exact nature of objective reality or rela-
tion of sensation and this reality. The distinction between what
480 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
we know we originate ourselves and the experiences which we do
not originate suffices to separate sensation and inner experiences
from each other and sensation becomes the criterion of foreign
reality.
That sensory functions do not present the nature of reality to
us is perhaps evidenced in illusions and hallucinations and es-
pecially dream phantasms. Here we take mental states for ex-
ternal realities and yet we are forced to discount this judgment.
Whatever the standard for reality, it is clear that we cannot accept
sensory phantasms as rightly indicating their objective nature in
individual cases and apart from the co-ordination of all of them
in terms of causal concepts. But we cannot go into the thickets of
this problem. It suffices to show the limits of the appeal to sen-
sation for indicating the nature, tho we have no difficulty with
the proposition that it is the index, of objective reality. The only
question that remains is whether psychic research can subscribe to
the demands of a scientific criterion. I refer, of course, to sensa-
tion as a criterion. The broader meaning of science is clearly
enough applicable to psychic research; namely, the examination
of present human experience whether sensory or reflective. But
it may not seem so evident that it may appeal to sensory facts for
necessary data.
In automatic writing and automatic speech we have indubit-
able sensory phenomena which may afford a basis for scientific
inquiry. They are sensory as objects of sense perception. In
both of them external stimuli get recognition. It does not affect
the question to maintain that they are products of the subcon-
scious of the subject manifesting them. This may be admitted,
as the claim of the psychic researcher is that the mental contents
of the writing and speech are from a foreign source. The me-
chanical features of the phenomena may be attributed to the
medium. This may not be strictly true, but it is not necessary to
maintain that it is not true. It may be conceded that they are
subconscious products of the subject affected. But when the in-
formation is supernormal it undoubtedly comes from a foreign
source and that is true on either theory of them ; namely, telepathy
or spirits. The only point to be established here is whether there
are any sensory facts associated with the supernormal. In autom-
atic writing and speech this is evident and whatever explanation
Science and Psychic Research.
481
we give of them as mechanical facts, outside intelligence must be
invoked for their contents when these are supernormal.
The same statement can be made of the ouija board, the
planchette and table tipping, provided the information produced
by them be supernormal. They are appeals to sense perception in
any case, but would have no interest for psychic research unless
the information obtained be supernormal.
All these represent motor automatism and the only question
that remains whether sensory automatism can be made to conform
to the scientific standard defined. They are subjective phenomena
in themselves, but are always capable of being converted into the
objective through speech or description. They consist of sensory
phantasms, whether of sight, hearing, touch, taste or smell.
Auditory hallucination would be in the form of voices mainly
but might take any other form of coincidental sound. Visual hal-
lucinations would take the form of apparitions or other coinci-
dental visions. Each sense may have its veridical sensory phan-
tasm or hallucination and to give them scientific character they
have merely to be described accurately by the subject of them and
their coincidence with unknown external facts established. It is
the relation to these external events that gives them their value,
not their form or the fact that they are sensory phenomena.
Their exceptional character as sensory experiences will have the
value of separation from the normal and their correlation with
external events not known will establish their supernormal nature.
We shall then be able to regard sensory phantasms or hallucina-
tions, of whatever form, if veridical, as conforming to the scien-
tific standard of psychic phenomena.
We have then both motor and sensory automatisms as phe-
nomena which subscribe to scientific criteria of truth and the
supernormal, showing that psychic research can adjust itself to the
severest scientific standards, except their mensuration as in ordi-
nary physics and chemistry But mensuration is not the only
condition of scientific method. It is only the best one for me-
chanics and mechanics are not the only form of science.
The physical phenomena of Spiritualism, such as telekinesis,
lights, raps, etc., if they are accompanied by intelligence in their
order of occurrence, would be subject to this first criterion of
truth. But they are less frequently clearly associated with intelli-
482 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
genre than automatic writing and speaking, and so must be de-
fective means for establishing supernormal intelligence. They
have an interest for disturbing the equanimity of the dogmatist in
physical science, but are not so important as are the mental phe-
nomena for proving the existence of discamate spirits. If the
physicist would only reflect a little he would quickly 9ee that tele-
kinesis is no such exception to the laws of nature as he is accus-
tomed to suppose. He is very hostile to the idea when it is re-
ported in mediumistic circles and talks very volubly about its
impossibility, but the fact is that the most widely extended forces
of the physical universe are telekinetic They are gravitation,
electricity, magnetism and wireless telegraphy. Some regard
telepathy as telekinetic, and if we assume that it produces any
effect in the physical organism of a physical type it is undoubtedly
telekinetic, unless we resolve it into messages carried by the dis-
camate when it would not strictly be telekinetic.* I might remark
that the physicist might have his particular objections removed by
admitting that telepathy did consist of messages carried by the
dead. But I shall not urge this beyond the hint for the wise.
I have paused with the general discussion only to show that
psychic research conforms to the fundamental standard of phys-
ical science in its criterion of knowledge, as it has been defined by
its work and advocates. We may then return to the main point
of interest to the psychic researcher, which is that, tho sensation
is the erndence of external reality, it is not by itself, or in the indi-
vidual case, the measure of what that reality is in its nature. If
this is true of the physical world, all the more is it true of veridical
experiences which are the subject of investigation by psychic re-
searchers. It is the function of the philosopher and the psycholo-
gist to show what the relation is between sensation and our con-
ceptions of the external world and the psychic researcher will pro-
ceed upon their findings in this matter. The philosopher and psy-
chologist have always had to face the doctrine of idealism which
is based upon the non-representative or non-presentative character
of normal sensory experience. For instance the visual sensation
of light has no resemblance to the undulations or vibrations which
* Since in that case the discamate mind would be presumed to have come
into direct relations with the brain of the living person and to act upon
it as his own mind acts. Ed.
Science and Psychic Research.
483
are supposed to cause it. Whatever the relation of the sensory
reaction to the object perceived the immediate stimulus is not
known in terms of the sensation and we have some sort of antithe-
sis between thought and reality to start with in all visual experi-
ence. The same fact seems to be established in the field of hear-
ing. Consequently we cannot take visual and auditory sensation
as the measure of what the external reality is or is like. They
may directly attest the existence of this reality, but not directly
its nature beyond the uniformity of coexistence and sequence, or
the law, the nomology, of the phenomena. We may find a way
sometime to show a more definite identity between external and
internal reality, but our sensations do not immediately attest their
nature. They may absolutely assure us of the fact, but may not
justify the naive assumption that the object has its nature directly
revealed in the sensation.
I repeat, then, that if this is true of the ordinary physical
world of sense perception, it is still truer of the world of super-
normal experience which finds some way to indicate its existence
in supernormal phenomena, whether in motor or sensory autom-
atism. The clearest illustration of this is found in the meaning
of the pictographic process of communication. We have found in
both telepathy and spiritistic communications that the pictographic
method gives a quasi-material reality to its products, and yet we
know that the cause is mental. The imagery of the agent is
transmitted non-symbolically, so to speak, to the percipient. That
is to say, the mental states of the agent appear in the percipient in
the same form that they had with the agent and imitate objective
reality in their form. They are, so to speak, simulacra of the
external world and yet are not material at all. They are mental
states in both agent and percipient and are not the physical reality
which many suppose them to be. Thus apparitions are resolved
into veridical hallucinations and spirits are not necessarily repre-
sented or presented in. their nature by them, tho we may find by
further inquiry that spiritual reality is still like them in form, but
not in physical reality.
The lesson to be deduced from this is that psychic experiences
cannot be taken as superficially measuring the nature of a spiritual
world. It is first a mental world whatever else it is, and we have
to prosecute our investigations much further before we can deter-
484 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
mine fully and accurately what we shall say of its nature. We
may in the end find ways of expressing the nature of it in con-
formity with the real nature of sensory experience, but it will not
be the same test or measure of it that we apply in normal life. I
mean, of course, that in normal life we usually take a sensation or
sense perception as revealing just what we suppose; namely, a
world of which sense experience is a fair measure, and so far as
attestation of the fact of it is concerned this is correct. But when
we come to measuring psychic-experiences by the same inferences
we are subject to illusions.
The fact is, it is not individual sensation that tells the nature
of reality in normal life, as has already been asserted, but only the
uniformity of expectation as to experience in the future. What
we do to determine what we call external reality is to associate dif-
ferent sensations with each other. We test the significance of
vision by its relation to tactual experience. " Reality ” for us is
what touch may do to confirm the experience of vision and so on
through the other senses. In fact, touch is par excellence the
sense for “ reality ” and unless a visual experience can be con-
firmed by it we regard it as an illusion or hallucination. The con-
sequence is that plurisensory experience is our measure of ex-
ternal “ reality,” tho in the last analysis it is no better measure of
“nature” than the individual sensation. We may still hold that
the uniformity of co-existence and sequence is all that sensory
experience determines for us and that the notion of external
“ reality ” or a physical world is a reflex of the principle of caus-
ality combined with the ideas of space and time. This makes the
criterion or measure of the nature of reality, external reality, an
internal function, so that the fact of physical reality may be at-
tested by sensation and the nature of it by subjective laws.
It is for the idealist in philosophy to develop the full expres-
sion and meaning of this. Here we can only avail ourselves of
the use of the recognized fact to indicate the point of view from
which we have to determine the nature of a spiritual world from
the facts of supernormal phenomena. If we cannot use veridical
experiences, motor or sensory, for attestation of the nature of a
spiritual world as pictorial presentations of it, we must endeavor
to determine their meaning otherwise. This meaning we may
find in analogies with internal experience. Here we know that
Science and Psychic Research.
485
hallucinations, dreams, deliria and all reflective life of the normal
type represent quasi-material reality, but are not this. They are
only creations of the mind and merely simulate reality in form.
They are themselves products of the mind and not products of
external stimulus. Divest the mind of the body and hence of its
sensory functions and you will have a consciousness left with its
creative powers. How far they extend is not here supposed or
asserted and would have to be the subject of further investigation
and discussion. But grant its store of memories and reflective
functions and a complete mental world, to use that phrase to avoid
the associations of the terms “ spiritual world,” would be the way
to conceive what we may mean by a life after death, at least so far
as we can immediately present an analogy in ordinary experience.
Sensation would not be the measure of its nature any more than
of the physical world as we know it normally, tho it might still be
the evidence of its existence. We should have to think of the spir-
itual world as in some form of antithesis to that which we are
tempted by sensory automatism to conceive it, if only to eliminate
the paradoxes which present themselves to us in trying to inter-
pret certain apparently absurd allegations. Superficially houses,
clothes, and other forms of material existence appear impossible
or absurd to us when asserted of a transcendental world, although
regarded abstractly apart from our actual experience they might
seem absurd in relation to this world. But not to make a point of
this which may seem captious, it is clear that all the paradoxes of
the revelations of a transcendental or spiritual world may easily
be resolved by conceiving it after the analogies of a mental world,
a dream life, whether rationalized or not. I am not here consid-
ering its ideal or desirable character. That is another matter.
What I am trying to do is merely to show how it may be con-
ceived, in so far as it is in any way connected with normal experi-
ence, and only in that way can we form any conception of it what-
ever. What else it may be must be determined either by our
presence and experience in it or by further investigations in the
future. The main point is that inner experience must be the meas-
ure of its first qualities and, with that recognized, many perplexi-
ties are resolved.
486 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
MEDIUMSHIP AND THE CRIMINAL LAW.'
By Blewett Lee.
Editorial Note. — The following article was shown us in manuscript
and we asked for it to print for the benefit of our readers, to many of
whom it will have interest, for one reason or another. But it had al-
ready been sent to the Columbia Law Review, where it appeared in
the May issue (under the caption of “Spiritualism and Crime”). It
is reprinted here with the consent of the Review and the author. The
citations of authorities are retained for the benefit of the few to whom
they will be of much value.
It is to be suspected that the influence of the old jurisprudence of
witchcraft, as well as that of the Mosaic law, still lingers in common
law and in municipal ordinances. While the obtaining of money by
palpable and unmistakable fraud, such as spurious materialisation and
spirit photography, ought to be punishable, it is questionable if the
public interest demands that all mediums who take compensation for the
services asked of them, whether or not an ordinance calls these by the
opprobrious term of “ fortune-telling,” should be liable to arrest when-
ever a criticised police authority deems it desirable to make a show of
activity. Psychical research is not yet branded by the law, bat,
if it should undertake to investigate the claims of professional
mediums, it might easily be charged with aiding a constructive
crime. No one has yet gone to this logical extremity, but there
are occasional revivals of medievalism, and this might be the next
Probably none of us will be sent to the stake like Bruno, or threatened
with the rack like Galileo, but obstacles might be put in the pathway of
research as in former times. It is hard to say which is the more de-
pressing glimpse of our civilization, the failure to interfere with a man
who for months, in the city of New York, fattened on the griefs of men
and women by exhibiting to them, at two dollars a head, pieces of phos-
phorescent cheese cloth as “ etherealizations ” of their dead friends and
by aiding with “ spirit ” advice the sale of wildcat stock, or the incarcer-
ation of another man who appears to be quite sincere, and who gives
some respectable evidence for his claims, because he derives a bare
living from those, mostly of his own congregation, who think that his
messages are worth the pittances they give him. It looks very much
like religious persecution since what he gives out comes near being the
sum and substance of the religion of his flock. No fraud was proved or
attempted to be proved — he was condemned for “ fortune-telling.” We
have no interest in the spiritualistic cult, but confess to an interest in
the right to do what neither can be shown of evil intent nor injurious to
the community. If there is moral evil in spiritualism, or moral good
1 For a discussion of the law of spiritualism on its civil side, see Psychic
Phenomena and the Law (1921) 34 Harvard Law Rev. 625.
Mediums hip and the Criminal Law.
487
either, such mediaeval reactions are bound to make it grow, as the whole
history oi religious repression shows.
To most lawyers criminal law is a disagreeable subject, redeemed
only by the possibility of fees for advising how to keep clear of its
clutches. Spiritualism has been considered stiH worse, if not a form
of insanity, at least, to borrow a favorite quotation from Vice-Chan-
cellor Giffard, “ mischievous nonsense, well calculated, on the one
hand to delude the vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious ;
and, on the other, to assist the projects of the needy and of the ad-
venturer.”3 Fortunately, however, spiritualism is now formidable
only to those who have not investigated it. As a credential of its
sincerity, belief in spiritualism comes down to us from the earliest
times.* Men have been punishing it as a form of magic from ancient
days, often with torture, frequently with death.4 Still we are not rid
of it by any means. Perhaps it would do no harm for those of us
who find everything in human nature interesting, to examine the legal
status of this occult practice, which has survived all the rest of our
magical lore. We need not pass upon its merits.® We are here in-
terested in the belief only as it affects conduct, and has made its im-
press on the law.
We will consider first the theory of the subject and then the de-
cided cases. From a theoretical point of view, the question what to
* Lyon v. Home (1868) L. R. 6 Eq. 655, 682.
• A general reference may be made to Andrew Lang, The Making of Re-
ligion (1898) ; and Tylor, Primitive Culture (6th ed. 1920). See also 1 Vino-
gradoff, Historical Jurisprudence (1921) 183n., 206 (reincarnation), 226
(ancestor worship) ; H. N. Wright, Primitive Law and the Belief in the Sur-
vival of Death (1918) 34 Law Quart. Rev. 380-91.
4 Exodus 22 :18, " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ” ; Leviticus 19 :31 ;
20:27. The witch of Endor evidently considered herself as under this ban.
1 Samuel 28:3-25. Roman Emperors imposed frightful punishments on
sorcery. Cod. Jur. Civ. 9:18. Hammurabi had the good sense to punish the
false accusation of sorcery with death. Code of Hammurabi § 2. See also
infra, footnote 34. For other references see (1921) 34 Harvard Law Rev.
629n. 17.
8 For a critical and carefully considered statement of the evidence of sur-
vival, see The Foundations of Spiritualism (1920) by a recent president of the
English Society for Psychical Research, W. Whately Smith. [Not W,
Whately Smith, but H. Arthur Smith, was president of the S. P. R. in
1910. — Ed.]
488 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
do with spirit mediums is not simple. To begin with, it is quite a
step to assume that what are called spiritualistic phenomena, such as
apparitions, hauntings, second sight, informative dreams, premoni-
tions, prophecies, lights, voices, rappings, clairvoyance and the like,
never occur at all, since literature, especially sacred literature, is
rather full of them, and one can hardly pick up a newspaper without
seeing an account of one. Such phenomena occurring spontaneously
are indeed sufficiently rare to be considered news. There are said to
be over eight hundred apparitions recorded in Gumey's Phantasms
of the Living ,a a careful book. Of course, the question whether or
not spirits have anything to do with the phenomena reported is an-
other matter altogether.
The problem of life after death is more or less involved. Enough
people believe that spirits are concerned to give their views a kind of
religious standing and protection under the wise legal policy of refus-
ing to condemn religious beliefs so long as no serious public mischief
results from the acts of the believers. Belief in witchcraft used to
have the best of standing, in the law and out of it,T and doubtless
things just as erroneous are now very generally accepted. Under all
the circumstances, therefore, the law cannot very well take the dog-
matic position that every phenomenon of the class called spiritualistic
is a delusion. For example, automatic-writing, which is sometimes
one of the most interesting of these phenomena, whether or not it has
any connection with spirits, must be regarded as indubitably occur-
ring and even as a practice rather widespread among amateurs.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that the possibilities of
fraudulent simulation of such phenomena are almost unlimited. To
take the case just mentioned of automatic-writing, the writer may
produce whatever he pleases and claim it was automatic. Where the
8 Gurney, Phantasms of the Living (1886). [Credit should be given not
only to Edmund Gurney but also to F. W. H. Myers and Frank Podmorc, co-
authors of the book. — Ed.]
i Addington v. Wilson (1854) 5 lnd. 137, 139. For a list of articles in
legal periodicals relating to witchcraft, see an earlier article. The Conjurer
(1921) 7 Virginia Law Rev. 370, 373. For a French case in 1920 where the
defence of witchcraft on the part of the plaintiff was set up, see Dr. W. L.
Sullivan, A Case of Witchcraft in a Modern Court (1921) 15 Journal of the
Amer. Soc. for Psychical Research 133. For witchcraft trials see 2 Howell,
State Trials (1616) 1049; 4 ibid. (1645 ) 818 ; 6 ibid. (1682 ) 647 ; 8 ibid. (1682)
1018. See also 4 B! Comm. 60.
Mediumship and the Criminal Law.
489
writing purports to occur in trance, the trance may be a sham.* The
phenomenon called direct- voice, if it occurs, must be rather difficult
to simulate, but all admit it is rare.8 As for materialization, slate-
writing, table-turning, the movement of physical objects without con-
tact, spirit-photography, and the like, they can be done so as to de-
ceive the very elect, and some well-qualified investigators during
many years of research have never found a single case they consid-
ered genuine.® Yet of course they could not declare dogmatically
that there never was a genuine case. We do not know exactly what
happened, for example, at Belshazzar’s feast,10 but we may fairly
assume that what occurred in the past was not different, at least in
kind, from what occurs to-day. The fact is plain that very many
so-called spirit mediums are arrant frauds and dupe people in the
most shameless way. But even here it is evident that there are some
mediums, mostly amateurs if you like, who are trustworthy, and yet
produce communications, sometimes interesting, purporting to come
from the dead. No well-informed person regards Mrs. Piper as a
conscious fraud, while she has produced a great deal of automatic-
writing which is very baffling indeed.
The business of taking money for services as a spirit medium has
its distinctly evil side. Sitters insist on getting results whether or no,
and mediums are evidently very suggestible. The fee is a temptation
to produce spurious phenomena. It may be that some persons who
really have a peculiar gift which works only occasionally, produce
frauds the rest of the time. This is said to have been the case with
Eusapia Palladino.f A liberal allowance must be made also for hys-
* [The tyro might easily be deceived on the questions whether writing is
really automatic and whether the trance is genuine, but it would be difficult
to deceive one who has become familiar with the characteristic indicia of
each. — Ed.]
8 An account of this alleged phenomenon, for those who are able to receive
it, will be found in Vice-Admiral Usborne Moore, The Voices (1913). He
writes as a spiritualist. In Appendix A he collects a long list of Bible refer-
ences on the subject.
B For a glowing account of the magnitude of these frauds, see E. H. Smith,
Crooks of Ghostland (1920) 192 Saturday Eve. Post 14.
10 Daniel 5:5.
t[A distinction should be drawn, however, and is drawn later in the ar-
ticle, between frauds done in a fully conscious and responsible state, and
spurious acts done in a secondary state of consciousness. Miss “ Burton," for
490 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
teria and for unconscious fraud.11 In view of the fact that con-
spicuous psychic phenomena are certainly rare, and cannot be pro-
duced to order — as to this investigators apparently agree — the system
of paid public performances by mediums is deplorable. Here, how-
ever, we have to face another consideration. There are apparently
great differences in mediumistic gifts. If there should be an honest
medium, who really has the faculty of producing easily and freely on
occasions, communications purporting to come from the dead, and
people who are bereaved, or are concerned about the immortality of
the soul (and who is not?), not having appreciably any such faculty
themselves, want to employ his services, has the law any moral basis
to forbid the exercise of his powers? Would it not be an unjustifi-
able interference with human liberty to forbid a genuine medium to
make a living in this way? Take the case of a medium who gives
herself up exclusively as a subject for scientific study for years like
Mrs. Piper for example, or “ Eva C.,” Baron von Schrenk-Notzing’s
patient, should she not be allowed to take pay for it? And if it is
lawful to take money for it, should not the medium be allowed to
advertise, and hold himself out to the public, which wishes to employ
him? Suppose the medium is really giving the sitters back again
material from their own minds which has passed below the level of
consciousness. Is this an illegitimate experiment, assuming there is
no deceit practiced on the part of the medium ?
We need to bring the mediums into the light, not drive them back
into the darkness, to carry on their pursuits. Would it be entirely
desirable in the interests of science, religion or even amusement, to
instance, coaid not have been aware that she grasped objects with her teeth
and tossed them about when in this altered mental condition, or she would
not have so readily consented to the flash-light photographs which revealed
the acts. — Ed]
11 This idea of unconscious fraud has great possibilities. For instance,
when a man, like the late Wm. T. Stead, is his own medium and writes
automatically his own messages, his subconscious mind may be giving him all
the time nothing but his own thoughts, and the personation of the dead in the
apparent communications may be all his own unconscious fraud. On this
hypothesis it is necessary to endow the subconscious mind with all the ac-
complishments of the supposed spirits and to say with the Psalmist that all
men are liars, at least in their subconscious minds. See especially Dr. Millais
Culpin, Spiritualism and the New Psychology (Amer. ed. 1921) a positive
and plausible book. [See Journal of the A. S. P. R. for Fdbruary, 1922. — £4]
M ediumship and the Criminal Law.
491
put an end altogether to the development of public mediums ? Un-
doubtedly, science would lose some good material. And if it were
desirable, would it be possible to accomplish this result of suppress-
ing mediums, in view of the experience of many rulers from King
Saul down, who in one way or another have vigorously tried to stop
them ? Will our easy-going popular government succeed where such
capable autocrats have failed? Did even the Holy Inquisition suc-
ceed? Behind spiritualism is the pathetic and majestic strength of
bereaved affection. Human nature takes hold on immortality with
an awful and august power; a faith that will live as long as the
human heart itself. “ We feel that we are greater than we know."
So long as the production of spurious phenomena is punished, the
law has gone about as far as it can wisely afford to go in the present
state of our knowledge of the subject. Those who consider all spir-
itualistic phenomena to be fraudulent cannot object to such a rule.
I f in a criminal case a medium proves in his defence that there was
no misrepresentation or fraud of any kind and that he acted in good
faith, in fair play he ought not to be punished. Suppose, however,
that frauds are produced in a state of hysteria, or even in a real
trance. Since the abnormal state is voluntarily produced, it is sug-
gested that it should not be any better defence than drunkenness
would be,13 Sometimes people deceive simply to attract attention to
themselves, or in a spirit of mischief. Ought they to escape punish-
ment on that account ? Suppose, as is said to have been the case with
D. D. Home, a medium makes no charge for his services. In a case
of fraud, morally the matter of gain ought not to be material. Yet
this is where the discrimination is made in case of obtaining money
by false pretences. From another point of view, the best way to
distinguish between the professional and the amateur medium is by
the test of taking pay in one way or another. We apply this rule in
our sports. For a practical rule it might be well to draw the line at
12 This would be a helpful rule for hysteria, while, if there were real
trance, possibly the probability of fraud would diminish, although this does
not necessarily follow. A convenient general reference is 16 Corp. Jur. 104-11
discussing somnambulism, somnolentia, intoxication, narcotics, and hypnotism,
of which hypnotism presents perhaps the nearest analogy. Indeed the Italians
treat the topics together. Lapponi, Hypnotism and Spiritism (Eng. tr. 1907) ;
Ottolenghi, La suggestions e It facoltd p sic hie he occults in rap porto alio
protica legale e medico-forsnse (1900).
492 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
pecuniary gain, even if it lets the practical joker escape. Suppose
the accused claims to have had no control over the phenomena, as in
the case of Abby Warner, who was brought before the magistrate in
1852 for disturbing divine worship with raps.18 At any rate it
should be an offence for a conscious carrier of raps to stay in church
after the raps begin. In the present state of human knowledge, to
require a medium to prove, in order to make out his defence, that
spirits in fact communicated with him, would practically be to con-
vict him in advance. But it would be only fair to let him try to
prove it, if he wanted to.
When we quit theory, however, and come to the decided cases,
there is a painful lack of authority. In Nurse v. State 14 the defend-
ant, who was indicted for the statutory offence of swindling, repre-
sented that he worked with spirits, and for twenty dollars would
disclose the hiding place of buried money. There had occurred, ac-
cording to the testimony, from time to time, lights and raps in the
vicinity. Money, forty-two dollars or more, was actually found in
the course of the digging, but it was buried again by the defend-
ant's advice, and later mysteriously disappeared, it was claimed, by
his act. The court ruled that since the money was actually found as
the defendant represented it would be, there could be no conviction
for swindling. In Dean v. Ross 18 in a civil action, it was ruled by
the lower court that if a medium really received the message from
the deceased person as she claimed and delivered the message in good
faith, she was not guilty of any fraud. One is not surprised to learn
that her testimony failed to convince the jury on this point If proof
could be made that the same message, or different parts of it, came
through different mediums, who had no connection with each other,
the probability of the good faith of each medium would be increased.
In 1441, Chief Justice “ Hody tried and condemned Roger Bol-
ingbroke, ‘ a gret and konnyng man in astronomye,’ for attempting
* to consume the king’s person by way of nygromancie.’ The un-
fortunate scientist was sentenced to death and executed.” 18
18 A pamphlet account of this curious case, which resulted in an acquittal,
will be found in the Library of Congress.
14 (1910) 59 Tex. Cr. 354, 128 S. W. 906. The accused was lucky not to
have come into the world too soon, or he might have died in an interesting
way, as a sorcerer or a heretic.
is (1901) 178 Mass. 397, 399, 60 N. E. 119.
18 John M. Zane, The Five Ages of the Bench and Bar of England, 1 Select
Mediums hip and the Criminal Law.
493
The trial of Richard Hathaway17 in 1702, at the direction of
Lord Chief Justice Holt, and Hathaway’s conviction for a cheat and
impostor, for pretending' to have been bewitched by Sarah Morduck,
went far to put an end to witchcraft trials in England. At this trial
Elizabeth Willoughby testified that when she was a girl she had been
bewitched, and while in this condition, said she,
“ ‘ I flew over them all . . . one held me by one arm, another
by the other, and another behind, and I flew sheer over their heads.’
“ Lord Holt — ‘ Woman, can you produce any of these women that
saw you fly ? ’
“ Witness — ‘ It was when I was a child ; they are dead.’ ’’
The significant thing is that the great judge did not deny the
possibility of the marvel ; he simply called for the proof. This atti-
tude, we suggest, is the sensible one for the law to take toward spir-
itualistic “ miracles.” While we may be sure that the laws of nature
have not been suspended, in our incomplete knowledge of the entire
circumstances there may have been causes at work of which we are
still ignorant.
The criminal cases about spiritualism are most easily found under
“ vagrancy," and this for a historical reason. The modem outburst
of spiritualism, characterized by intelligent communications, dates
from almost the middle of the nineteenth century.18 At that time in
Essays in Anglo-American Legal History (1907) 673. The whole unhappy
history is quaintly told in the English Chronicle (Davies ed. 1866, 64 Camden
Soc. 57-60), along with the tragic fate of “ the Wicche of Eye,” who also per-
ished on account of the fall of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester. While Bol-
ingbroke went to the scaffold and the witch to the stake for fictitious crimes,
Eleanor was clever enough to escape with a penance. The story is preserved
in King Henry VI, Part 2. Bolingbroke’s necromancy is in Act 1, Scene 4.
The King delivers sentence in Act II, Scene 3, which is, of course, legally im-
possible, while Eleanor's penance will be found in Act II, Scene 4. The char-
acteristic doctrine of spiritualism is that the dead communicate with the living.
Most of Shakespeare's spirits as he imagined them, were never human.
17 14 Howell, op. cit. 639, 674; referred to in 2 Pike, History of Crime in
England (1876) 289. This incident is taken from Thayer, Legal Essays
(1906) 353. Cf. F. J. Lippitt, Psychic Facts in Courts of Law (1890) 24
American Law Rev. 1008.
18 The Hydesville, N. Y., rappings of the Fox Sisters were in 1848, and the
experiments of Alphonse Cahagnet in France began in 1845. Spence, Encyclo-
paedia of Occultism (1920). [The modern outburst of spiritualism is “char-
494 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
England, by successive ameliorating statutes nothing had been left of
the witchcraft acts which, it was thought, would apply to a practising
spiritualist at least so long as he made no pretence of magical pow-
ers, stuck to his calling and refrained from such things as fortune-
telling and finding lost articles.1* The Act against Rogues and Vaga-
bonds was at any rate the one considered best available for use
against fraudulent mediums.
The leading English case on the subject is Monck v. Hilton,*0
acterized by intelligent communications,'’ but the author cannot mean to imply
there previously had been none such. There had been innumerable cases be-
sides that of Jeanne d'Arc of the fifteenth century, and the Woman of Endor
incident in the Bible (1 Sam., 28) is a sufficient witness that the claim was
familiar in ancient times. — Ed.]
19 For the history of sorcery in England, see 2 Pollock and Maitland,
History of English Law (2d ed. 1899) SS2-S6. Of Felony by Conjuration,
Witchcraft, Sorcery or Enchantment, 3 Co. Inst. ch. 6, p. 43, deals not only
with evil spirits, but also with clairvoyant indication of hid treasures or lost
articles. For the witchcraft acts and the convictions under them, see 2
Stephen, History of the Criminal Law of England (1883) 43(1-36. For a
history of the acts against vagrancy, see 3 ibid. 266-75. The last witchcraft
act, St. 9 Geo. II, c. 5, § 4, (which punishes pretending magical powers) dates
from 1735 and parts of it are still in force in England and in Ontario — indeed
it has been re-enacted as far off as Papua. See Prohibition of Fortune Telling
and Kindred Offences (1913) 43 L. R. A. (n. s.) 203; Legal Status of Seers
and Necromancers (1914) 21 Case and Comment 445, 451; Fortune Telling
and the Supernatural (1917) 81 J. P. 155-56.
40 (1877) L. R. 2 Ex. D. 268; see also Regina v. Middlesex Justices (1877)
LR.2Q.B.D. 516; In re Slade (1877) 36 L. T. R. (it s.) 40(2, s. c., (where
that celebrated medium narrowly escaped). An amusing account of it, for
which I am indebted to Mr. Edward B. Adams, is given by Mr. Serjeant Bal-
lantine. Experiences of a Barrister’s Life (Amer. ed. from 6th Eng. ed. 1882)
357-58. At p. 355 of the same book is an account of the notorious libel case
of Morrison v. Belcher. Admiral Belcher accused Lieutenant Morrison,
author of Zadkiel’s Almanac, of being a cheat and impostor for claiming to
communicate with spirits by means of a crystal ball. Morrison recovered
twenty shillings damages. At one time it was held that the element of deceit
was a necessary ingredient of the crime. Regina v. Entwistle [1899] 1 Q. B.
846 (a case of a fortune teller) ; and that good faith was a defence, Davis v.
Curry [1918] 1 K. B. 109. In Laing v. Macpherson (1918) J. C. 10, the de-
fendant offered proof by witnesses of having the powers professed, but failed
to convince the court In an interesting pamphlet, Richard W. Waddy, Legal
and Medical Aspects of Spiritualism (1907), it is argued that in Monck v.
Hilton the court should have enforced the last witchcraft act supra, footnote
19, §j) 3, 4, against pretended conjuration, instead of the act against vagrants.
M ediumship and the Criminal Law.
495
where it was held that under the Vagrancy Act 81 one who gave a
fraudulent seance in a dark room with raps, tambourine playing, and
slate-writing was punishable as a rogue and vagabond. In this case
the defendant had been rather careful about his oral statements, but
Upon conjuration, see that title in (1917) 12 Corp. Jur. 504; (1921) 7 Virginia
Law Rev. 370. Dr. Powell claims that the incident in the New Testament
known as the Transfiguration would have been punishable both under the
witchcraft and the vagrancy act See infra, footnote 33. This view does not
recognize good faith as a defence. Upon the question whether the genuineness
of the phenomena would be a defence, at least their genuineness would be evi-
dence of good faith. Mrs. Fletcher was indicted in London under the last
witchcraft act, and the question of her good faith was left to the jury.
Thayer, op. cit. 328.
But in Stonehouse v. Manon [1921] 2 K. B. 818, it was unanimously held
that under the Vagrancy Act, (1824) St 5 Geo. IV, c. 83, § 4, professing to
tell fortunes is an offence without regard to whether or not the person so pro-
fessing believes he has the power to tell fortunes, and Davis v. Curry was
overruled. To this conclusion the court was led by examining the earlier
vagrancy acts, especially (1597) St. 39 Eliz., c. 4, and by concluding that under
them the intent to deceive was not necessary. Counsel for respondent indeed
pointed out that fortune telling, simpliciter is an offence under the Witchcraft
Act, (1735) St 9 Geo. II, c. 5, § 4, still in force. (The phrase is "undertake
to tell fortunes " in § 4 of the latter act) The Scotch case of Lee or Smith
v. Neilson (1896), 23 Rettie 77, should also be consulted, which takes a differ-
ent view. The case of Stonehouse v. Matson, supra, however, sticks very
close to the words of the statute, and confines itself to the offence of “pro-
fessing to tell fortunes ” and is not an authority that a person participating in
a stance in good faith, believing himself to be a spirit medium, and not pro-
fessing to tell fortunes, is guilty of an offence. Suppose, however, he gave a
message containing a prediction. The Lord Chief Justice “could not imagine
anyone’s holding himself out to tell fortunes who did not himself know that
he was deceiving the persons whose fortunes he told." Unhappily, in the dark
underworld of the subconscious mind, self-deceit is a commonplace. Without
questioning the correctness of the interpretation given the act, it is submitted
that it is not very moral to inflict severe punishments on persons acting in
good faith. There is no particular connection between spiritualism and fortune
telling. Some of the reported cases indicate a performance more like what
has been called psychometry, which, if it is real, may not involve the operation
of any other mind than that of the person supposed to have the gift of seeing
visions when holding a significant object. As for lost articles, if they can be
located at all by a clairvoyant the readiest explanation is that the clairvoyant
directly reads the subconscious memory of the sitter. This would not how-
ever, explain locating the dead bodies of lost persons, which has sometimes
been claimed to occur.
M (1824) St 5 Geo. IV, c. 83.
496 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had used mechanical tricks to produce the appearance of supernormal
physical phenomena. By the section referred to, “ every person . . .
pretending or professing to tell fortunes or using any subtle craft,
means or device by palmistry or otherwise to deceive and impose on
any of his Majesty’s subjects . . . shall be deemed a rogue and
vagabond, etc.,” (punishable by hard labor in the house of correction
for not exceeding three months). References are given in the opin-
ion to the earlier statutes showing that the act actually applied was
the last of a series of statutes directed against gypsies, jugglers and
the like, and not one of the entirely different series relating to
witchcraft.
When a fee is charged, a fraudulent medium may be guilty of
obtaining money by false pretences.
“ The pretence of power, whether moral, physical, or supernat-
ural, made with the intent to obtain money, is within the mischief of
the law, and sufficient to constitute an offence within the language of
the statute." 22
The false pretence of power to communicate with deceased per-
sons is indictable under the statute.23 In view of this excellent crim-
inal remedy against fraudulent mediums it is difficult to see the need
of additional legislation. Indeed the recent penal codes of Japan and
Switzerland, and the new draft of the Chinese Penal Code do not
seem to deal directly with the subject at all.24 The offence of giving
22 Erie, C. J., in Rex v. Giles (1865) 10 Cox C. C. 44, 48 (an indictment
for false pretences under (1861) St. 24 & 25 Viet, c. 96, § 88).
23 Regina v. Lawrence (1877) 37 L. T. R. (N. s.) 404; Commonwealth v.
Keeper County Prison (Pa. 1884) 16 Wkly. Notes Cas. 282. In these cases a
fee was charged. The prosecutions in France, Germany and Italy appear to be
based upon the notion of gain by intentional deceit. This seems to be the
sound theory. See especially City of Chicago v. W estergren (1912) 173 I1L
App. 562, 564.
24 The Japanese legislation on sorcery is not without interest. In the ap-
pendix to de Becker's translation of the Criminal Code of Japan (1918) deal-
ing with infractions of the police regulations, (Home Department Ordinance
No. 16 of the year 1908), the following are punished with detention for less
than thirty days or a police fine of less than 20 yen (art. 2, §§ 17-19) :
“ 17. Persons who have recklessly told fortunes or forecast the future or
practised invocations, spells, etc., or given amulets and charms and thus de-
ceived or imposed upon people;
Mediumship and the Criminal Law.
497
fraudulent seances seems to be entirely a statutory one in the United
States, so that the text of the act must be carefully examined in each
case. Of course, a fraudulent medium can do things which will
bring him within the purview of widely different statutes. For in-
stance, he may conduct himself in such a way as to be practising
medicine without a license.25 Or he may co-operate with assistants
so as to be guilty of conspiracy to defraud.26 And especially should
be beware of telling fortunes and locating lost articles.
The New York Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 899, pun-
ishes as a disorderly person among others “ persons pretending to
tell fortunes, or where lost or stolen goods may be found.” Under
the statute it makes no difference that the accused claims to predict
the future by the aid of departed spirits. In People v. Ashley 27 the
defendant, who was convicted, represented herself to be a medium
and the president and minister of the “ Brooklyn Spiritualist Soci-
ety.” The statute was held constitutional so far as the free exercise
of religion is concerned, for which there is indeed no lack of author-
ity. In the civil case of Fay v. Lambourne,-e the court said, citing
Section 899,
“ The pretense of occult powers and the ability to answer confi-
dential questions from spiritual aid is as bad as fortune telling and a
species of it and is a fraud upon the public.”
“ 18. Persons who have practised magic formulas, invocations, spells, for
sick persons or given them “ holy " amulets, " holy ” water, etc., and thus
prevented them from obtaining regular medical treatment ;
“ 19. Persons who have unwai rantably practised hypnotism."
It will be observed that there is nothing here about locating lost articles.
Note the word “recklessly" in § 17. In the Criminal Code for the Dutch
East Indies, in force Jan. 1, 1918, by art. S4S, fortune telling, predicting the
future or interpreting dreams is forbidden. Art. 546 punishes the selling of
amulets and the teaching of spells with the intention of creating the belief that
thereby protection will be given while violating the law. Art. 547 punishes
witnesses who testify while wearing amulets believed to protect them in com-
mitting perjury. For these citations I am indebted to the International Inter-
mediary Institute at The Hague. Cf. Penal Code of the Philippine Islands,
art. 5.
28 People v. Vogelgesang (1917) 22 1 N. Y. 290, 292. 116 N. E. 977.
26 People v. Gilman (1899) 121 Mich. 87, 80 N. W. 4. In this case only
one dollar a head was charged to see a spirit materialization.
22 (1918) 184 App. Div. 520, 172 N. Y. Supp. 282.
2« (1908) 124 App. Div. 245. 247, 108 N. Y. Supp. 874.
498 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Suppose, however, the questions related not to the future but only
to the past or present. Would it really be fortune telling at all?*®
In Staufer v. State,™ under the Texas statute,81 it was held that a
spiritualist is not punishable unless he advertises. In order to violate
this statute a person must also maintain himself in whole or in part
by his spiritualistic pursuits. In City of Chicago v. Ross™ the de-
fendant escaped from a city ordinance directed against spirit me-
diums by inducing the court to hold that the city had been granted no
power by the state to enact the ordinance in question. There are
French and German cases, at least in the lower courts, where fraud-
ulent mediums have been punished. They indicate the universality
of such frauds. There is no particular public demand in the United
States for their punishment. In England, offences of this character
are apparently regarded more seriously, and the fear of punishment
has in the past forced some mediums into exile or seclusion. It is
hard to see how our English brethren have, on the whole, had any
better results from their more vigorous policy than we have had in
America from leaving the matter pretty much alone. Every convic-
tion, however, justifiable, starts up a cloud of apologists and defend-
ers, and spiritualism gets a good advertisement. The religious aspect
of the subject becomes prominent immediately. Spiritualism cannot
possibly be as repugnant to anyone in our day as early Christianity
was to a Roman gentleman, and we cannot hope to surpass in thor-
oughness his methods of eradication. The blood of the martyrs was
the seed of the church. In England the suggestion has been made
that professional mediums be required to take out licenses from a
responsible official board.*8 Of course, everything would turn on
the personnel of such a commission. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has
suggested that in addition a license be required in order to consult
a medium.
Conceivably a ghost might be guilty of frightening a man to
death, or haunting a too mediumistic person into committing sui-
29 See State v. Neil set (1912) 69 Wash. S67, 125 Pac 939; People v. HiU
(1921) 66 N. Y. 1.. J. 79; Fortune-Teller, Bouvier, Low Dictionary (1914).
(Tex. Cr. App. 1919) 209 S. W. 748.
81 Tex. Pen. Code (Vernon 1902) art. 634.
M (1911) 160 III. App. 641, afFd (1912) 257 111. 76, 100 N. E. 159.
38 Dr. Ellis T. Powell, Psychic Science and Barbaric Legislation (1917).
Mediumship and the Criminal Law.
499
cide,84 or might suggest the commission of a crime, or even take
possession of a person and do mischief, or might set a house on fire,
or smash crockery, or trespass abominably,84 while the supposed
spirit communicators are frequently accused of false personation,
sometimes of telling fortunes falsely, even of obscene language ; but
I know of no way of bringing the offender into court, if such a thing
should happen.84 If there were parties to the crime who were in the
flesh, they could be punished, whether mediums or not.8T Conceiv-
ably any person might have a spirit communication in a dream 88
In the Ne w York Times, June 3, 1921, in an account of the trial
in Berlin of Salomon Teilirian for the murder of Talaat Pasha, the
defendant is stated to have testified that in a vision of a massacre he
saw the dead body of his murdered mother, who stood up and re-
84 In De Maupassant's frightful story, Lt Horla (1887), there is something
like this. In Kipling, The Phantom 'Rickshaw (1888), a man is haunted to
death.
88 As in Anatole France, Histoire Comique (1909), translated under the
name of A Mummer's Tale. For cases of the successful defence that the
house was haunted, in suits for rent, see Andrew Lang, Cock Lane and Com-
mon Sense (1894) 269, and the following references for which I am indebted
through the International Intermediary Institute (Bulletin VI, I, 199-200, No.
768) to Professor Lord! : Le case inf estate dagli spiriti e il dirilto alia risolu-
sione del contralto di locaeione by Conseiller d’Amilio (now a member of the
Italian delegation to the League of Nations) in (1910) 1 Rivista di Diritto
Commerciale 218; Dodsworth, Le case inf estate dagli spiriti e il diritto dell
’inquilino alia risolusione del contralto (1910) ; Fr. Zingaropoli, Memoria nella
causa fra la Duchessa di Castelpoto e la Baronessa Englen (1908).
86 This would not have stopped the ecclesiastical courts of mediaeval
France. Since the courts had the power of putting a curse upon the offender,
his failure to appear would not have saved him. See E. P. Evans, Criminal
Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals (1906), summarized by W.
F. Dodd in (1908) 20 Green Bag 28. Animals (including insects) which
failed to appear when cited were, nevertheless, tried and excommunicated. In
the case of the caterpillars in Dauphin^ in 1584, a counsellor was appointed to
defend them from anathema and malediction. For the procedure, see Law-
suits Against Animals (1902) 14 Green Bag 471 ; or Animals as Offenders and
as Victims (1880) 21 Albany Law Joum. 265, citing Agnel, Prods contre les
Animaux. It should be borne in mind that animals were supposed to be sub-
ject to possession by evil spirits, who were the real offenders. Between 1266
and 1572 we have accounts of ninety-two such trials in France.
87 1 Bishop, New Criminal Law (1892) § 593 (3) (witchcraft).
88 Cf. Craven v. Craven (1913) 181 Ind. 553, 103 N. E. 333.
500 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
proached him because Talaat Pasha was still living. Tdlirian was
acquitted on the ground of insanity.
If we assume that there was anything more involved than the
action of a disordered mind in a dream, obviously this story should
be no more of a defence than if the mother of the accused had ap-
peared before him while still in the flesh and said the same things.
Suppose that a medium had consciously delivered to the defendant a
message to the same effect, as coming from the deceased mother.
The question of the criminal liability of the medium for delivering
such a message ought to be solved in the same way as if the medium
had delivered a similar message from the mother given before her
death. In other words, the criminal problem should be dealt with as
if it were based upon communications by human beings still living.38
When witchcraft was believed in, bewitching a person to death
was considered murder. If a superstitious person should die on
account of his knowledge of malevolent prayers or magical rites
being carried on intended to produce his death, this would be one
form of homicide by fright.40
89 Cf. the leading case of Robinson v. Adams (1874) 62 Me. 369, 409, in-
volving the validity of a will ; also the rule as to insane delusions in criminal
cases being treated as if true, upon the question of responsibility. (1918) 16
Corp. Jur. 101.
40 See Wharton, Criminal Law (11th ed. 1912 ) 259. Praying people to
death appears to be believed in not only in the Sandwich Islands, but in Ger-
many. Dr. Jos. B. Holzinger, Das " Delikt der Zauberei" in Literatur und
Praxis (1904) 15 Archiv fur Kriminal-Anthropologie und Kriminalistik 327,
335. In Ta Tsing Leu Lee (Pen. Laws of China, Sir George T. Staunton’s tr.
1810) by § 162 “magicians who raise evil spirits by means of magical books
and dire imprecations ’’ are punished. As for witchcraft, § 289 punishes
“ using magical writings and imprecations with a view to endeavor to occasion
the death of any person therewith ” or “ in order to produce disease and in-
firmity in any individual.” It is interesting to note that there is nothing about
witches as such. As to death by fright, § 299 punishes alarming a person by
violent threats so that he kills himself. This is also punished in the Japanese
Penal Code and the Chinese Draft Code. Belief in witchcraft prevails gener-
ally in China, with tragic consequences. E. T. Williams, Witchcraft i« the
Chinese Penal Code (1907) 38 Jour, of the North China Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Soc. 61. Indeed, primitive races all over the world still suffer from
this cruel superstition. In the Code of Manu IX, 290, witchcraft is punished
only by a fine. 25 F. Max Muller, Sacred Books of the East (1886 ) 393-94.
The practice of witchcraft is still punishable by death in Africa under the
Mohammedan law, and is treated as one form of apostasy. Ruxton, Maliki
Mediumship and the Criminal Law. 501
The important thing to remember is that we are dealing, in any
event, with acts or communications of human creatures like our-
selves. This is certainly true of all that originates with the medium
or ourselves, including all living persons, and if by any chance some
of the acts or communications should really come from dead men,
that makes no difference from a legal point of view ; they would be
human actions just the same.
Blewett Lee.
New York City.
Law (1916) 326, 327. For murder by fear caused by New Guinea sorcerers,
see Capt C. A. Monckton, Taming New Guinea (1921) 187, 189. In Harry
A. Franck, Roaming through the West Indies (1920) it is stated that people
are frightened to death by sorcerers the same way, in Haiti.
>0*1
502 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
NOTES FROM PERIODICALS.
By George H. Johnson.
Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Part
LXXXV, June, 1922. The Presidential Address, delivered at the
general meeting of the English Society May 10, 1922, by the new
president, T. W. Mitchell, M. D., reaches the high standard which
has been set by his predecessors in the office and should be read
by everyone interested in psychical research. Dr. Mitchell rapidly
reviews the relation of the medical profession to so-called occult
phenomena from the prehistoric “ medicine man ” and the early
Greeks to Freud and psycho-analysis. This leads to the expres-
sion of the opinion that the most important problem in the field of
psychical research is the occasional display in mediumistic trance
of knowledge which must have been acquired in some supernor-
mal manner — such acquisition having been demonstrated over and
over again. Three main problems present themselves for con-
sideration. ( 1 ) Under what conditions and in what ways is such
knowledge acquired? (2) In what circumstances and through
what mechanism is it displayed? (3) What is its source? Dr
Mitchell’s brief discussion of these questions shows a master
mind, although his conclusions may not generally be accepted as
final. He closely connects, if not identifies, mental dissociation
with hypnotic and hysterical somnambulism, automatism and
mediumistic trance phenomena. “ This conception,” he remarks,
“ is equally applicable whether we regard all display of super-
normal faculty as being merely the revelation of unsuspected po-
tentialities in the human organism, or as manifestations of some
influence emanating from a transcendental world.”
The condition of such dissociation is typified by a " fault ” in
the mental structure, through which phylogenetically older
functions, or — as an alternative hypothesis — the influence of dis-
camate minds, may manifest activity. It is suggested that psycho-
analysis may be the instrument for solving the problem of the
supernormal acquisition of knowledge.
Notes from Periodicals.
503
Journal of the S. P. R. for June. The English Society hith-
erto found and investigated many an impressive psychic.
Whether the case of Miss “ Nancy Sinclair,” as here reported,
will prove to be such a one remains to be seen. If hope were a
permissible emotion, it would be decidedly strained at the outset,
so extreme are the claims. The report, which occupied the most
of the issue, is by an investigator whose name is unfortunately
withheld because the psychic, as is too commonly the case, is a
shrinking violet, and owing to the circumstances to reveal one
name would be equivalent to disclosing the other. He is, how-
ever, vouched for by the Society as a competent observer, and the
possibility of the names being given in a subsequent report is
held out.
“ Miss Sinclair ” is introduced by Mr. T as a lady inti-
mately known to himself and his wife during the past seven years,
and for months they have been living in the same house. She is
said to have had supernormal faculties all her life, but she con-
cealed her powers, and development did not begin until February,
1921, under the direction of Mr. T ; but this was broken off
for a period of six months, so anything which could be called a
test was very recent. Mr. T ’s report is divided into two
parts. The first part, occupying twenty-four pages, describes the
types of phenomena manifested by Miss Sinclair, viz., telepathy,
clairvoyance and “ impressions," and the various states in which
she produces them. The second part describes “ evidential cases,”
in particular a series of tests with playing cards in which, it is
claimed, Miss Sinclair displayed clairvoyance, prevision, and other
powers. The results as reported certainly command attention. In
a series of seven sittings, apparently consecutive, predictions were
made, usually in a state of trance, as to the first five, six, seven or
eight cards to be turned up from the pack which Mr. T
manipulated. The first three series so predicted contained one
error each, and the other four none ; but in no case was the suit
named. The mathematical probability of such predictions, con-
sidered as separate series, being so nearly right by chance is com-
puted to range from 1 in 33,840 for the third test to 1 in 462,-
980,000 for the seventh.
What surprised Mr. T the most was the fact that after
one prediction covering the first eight cards to be turned up by
504 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
him was exactly fulfilled in name and sequence, Miss S having
handled the cards herself and then both agreeing that such a
“ test ” was not quite convincing and therefore ought not to be
counted, the next time he shuffled them and the prediction was
again fulfilled!
We should think he might have been surprised, indeed, since,
if the absence of conscious or trance manipulation was as certain
as he declares it, the psychic must be credited with a power to
foreknow details contingent on the human will which many theo-
logians do not ascribe to God Almighty. The claims involved are
so stupendous and unexampled in the annals of demonstration as
to compel concurrence in what is said in the editorial note : “ Some
of these phenomena — in particular those described on pp. 321 ff.
[those which would require not simply clairvoyance but absolute
foreknowledge] — are of such a remarkable and so far inexplicable
nature that obviously no certain conclusions can be drawn, until it
has been found possible to repeat the experiments." Of course,
with the addition of another competent observer to the one
who is anonymous. Since all seven experiments which appar-
ently were successful occurred in the course of but about seven
weeks, it ought to be possible to repeat them under a varied con-
trol of conditions without great difficulty. Until that is done it
is easier to credit that, after all, some undiscovered factor existed.
This report is followed by Mr. E. J. Dingwall’s review of
the reports of committees which have examined the materializa-
tion phenomena of the medium Einer Nielsen. As soon as strict
conditions were imposed some evidence of trickery was found,
and the latest committee reported accordingly. Mr. Dingwall
however, does not consider that fraud was sufficiently demon-
strated.
The Occult Review (London) for August contains a number
of interesting articles covering quite a range of subjects, and also
a range in values. We notice in particular The Devos — a subject
of interest to every psychic researcher; but the method of treat-
ment here is so unlike the researcher’s that it suggests a consider-
ation of its almost opposite methods and purposes. The occultist
is to the psychic researcher what the impressionist in art is to the
photographer. They are not likely to appreciate each other’s
Notes from Periodicals.
505
work, even though they represent identically the same scene. This
essay, although very well written — and therein characteristic of
this Reznetv — is nevertheless a notable example — from the stand-
point of the researcher — of how-not-to-do-it. Interesting stories
of angels, visions, prophetic dreams, etc., are given as “ derived
from various sources.” The researcher, of course, wants a com-
plete statement of the facts with names, dates and verifications,
without which the stories — however interesting they may be — can
not be accepted as a basis for induction. If the occultists would
only change their oriental or mediaeval attitude toward phenomena
to that of the Novum Organum they might become valuable re-
cruits to the ranks of researchers. The occultist seems to be in
love with the occult for its own sake, while the researcher values
it only as a door through which he may pass into domains of
knowledge which lie beyond. The occultist loves the mystery as a
thing in itself ; the researcher loves it as a thing to be dissipated.
The occultist is an artist in his tastes, while the researcher is a
sportsman as well as a detective. The mental attitude of the one
is passive observation and contemplation ; of the other, active in-
vestigation under test conditions. The purpose of the one is
thought and meditation ; of the other knowledge. The method of
the one is to wait for the natural and the supernatural alike to
evolve for their edification and inspiration; the method of the
other is to search out the secrets of nature to determine her laws
and thus become the masters of their own destinies. Similar re-
marks apply to Haunted Houses and Exorcism. The writer of
this article should learn the legal rule that those who seek to
establish a case are bound to use the best evidence obtainable —
excluding hearsay. Automatic Writing, by E. Ernest Hunt, is a
very readable and illuminating essay which treats in a popular
style the philosophy of an obscure subject. The author writes
from personal experience, but “ in the issue the psychological
results decided him to terminate the experiments.” It is to be
regretted that these results are not more definitely stated. The
reason for the discontinuance of the writing “ upwards of a quar-
ter of a century ago ” is presumably indicated in the opinion ex-
pressed that the practice of automatic writing is conditional upon
the dissociation of the conscious and sub-conscious minds, which
in the course of time might become permanent by the sub-
506 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
conscious taking control and over-riding the rational conscious-
ness— thus producing insanity. The paper concludes with an
expression of the hope that the advance of psychology will enable
us to eliminate from automatic writings the product of the sub-
conscious mind, thus leaving a residuum whose origin must prob-
ably be sought in a spiritual world.
Light, issue of July 1, 1922, contains an article on “ Spiritual-
ism and Psychical Research,” by George E. Wright, which clearly
explains the frequently misunderstood attitude of Spiritualists
toward this subject. It appears that the lack of friendly co-opera-
tion on the part of Spiritualists toward those who are studying
their favorite subject with scientific methods and motives has sev-
eral reasons. The psychical researchers, it is said, beginning with
Professor Sidgwick, have held an attitude of suspicion toward all
mediums, and have generally avoided professional mediums — who
are presumably the best representatives of the cult. Fair investi-
gation is thus handicapped from the start. The following sug-
gestions are made by Mr. Wright, the observance of which, he
thinks, would promote a co-operative disposition on the part of
Spiritualists.
( 1 ) Recognizing the Spiritualists by appointing them as mem-
bers of any committee to investigate one or more of their own
number, and having no test without the presence of one or more
of the medium’s friends.
(2) Abandonment by the Society for Psychical Research of
its attitude of superior knowledge.
(3) That test conditions be not arbitrarily imposed, but
adopted only after agreements with the medium, the “ control,”
and their friends.
(4) That no report of such sitting be published until it has
been approved by the medium himself and all other persons pres-
ent, or, in case of a majority and minority report, that both be
published together and neither separately.
(5) That every account of a series of experiments with any
medium be preceded by a precis of the previous experiments held
by the Spiritualists with the same medium, with references to
original sources, etc.
However reasonable such rules of practice may seem to the
Notes from Periodicals.
507
Spiritualists it is easy to say that researchers will not generally
find them practicable. This would make an interesting subject for
debate in some researchers’ conference.
However desirable it may be from the standpoint of the
psychical researcher for Spiritualists and occultists to co-operate
with them, it must be admitted there is little chance of such an
approachment. Their fundamental differences are intellectual.
As long as the Spiritualists attitude is that thorough investigation
and demonstration of psychic phenomena are not necessary be-
cause their own experience is certain and that much may
be taken for granted and so long as the occultist says “ Rational
knowledge is not needed here because I have emotion and the
apprehension of truth without the cumbersome process of sensa-
tion and ratiocination,” they will not do much to promote psychi-
cal research however much they may be interested in the subject.
>0*1
508 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
INCIDENT.
DREAM COINCIDING WITH EXTERNAL FACTS.
The following narrative must tell its own story. Whether it
is telepathic or otherwise explicable each reader will have to de-
termine for himself. In any case it does not seem like chance
coincidence. Its explanation will be found in that of the col-
lective mass of similar experiences. — J. H. H.
1. Statement By Dreameb.
[Not dated, but the letters which follow show that
this was written before April 11, 1909.]
Dr. James H. Hyslop,
Dear Sir:
I write in answer to an “ appeal ” published in the Dayton
(Ohio) “Herald” of recent date, and I wish to state in advance
that previous to the experience herein related I had no belief in any-
thing of that nature. I knew no philosophy except the materialistic
“ Natural Philosophy ” as it is taught in schools.
But my first strange “ dream experience ” was as follows :
In April, 1886, my brother and my nephew went, from here, to
California. My brother returned in a short time, but the nephew,
G S by name, remained in Los Angeles. This nephew was
my sister’s son and she (my sister) being dead, I had always taken
a deep interest in her two orphaned children. But letters which we
received from G— stated that he was doing well and so I felt no
uneasiness concerning him. Some of our family received a letter
from him about two weeks previous to my dream, and he was well
and contented. I do not recollect that I had even thought of him for
several days before my unusual dream.
On the night of February 16th, 1887, I had sat up somewhat late
to work. (I was making some chair seats for a Dayton factory that
gave out that kind of work), and after I retired I soon went to
sleep. All at once it seemed to me that something gave me a sharp
and sudden shake, which aroused me, and I looked and saw G
Incident.
509
S . Apparently he stood close to me, but the room in which he
stood was not my own bed-room, in which I had so recently lain
down to sleep. G looked life-size and natural, except that his
face was disfigured with red blotches, which looked to be sunken a
little below the natural surface of the skin. The blotches looked
like half-healed ulcers, irregular shaped.
Something close to me seemed to pronounce his name “G 1”
and instantly the scene changed somewhat, and I saw him sitting
down holding what seemed to be a handkerchief to his face, and a
voice said, “ A heavy misfortune.” Then, as quickly as before, the
scene was changed, and I saw G lying prone, face downward
with his shoes and clothing on — upon a narrow bed upon which, it
seemed to me, he had thrown himself, in an abandonment of extreme
physical suffering or mental dejection. Then I myself, seemed to ask
the question, “ Does he suffer mentally or physically ? ’’ and I sat up
in my bed and looked about me. There was nothing unusual in the
room, and I lay down again and went to sleep.
A day or two later I visited my only living sister. I told my
dream to her and her daughter, but I stated to them that it was no
doubt a dream like all other dreams, and although it was unusual
in many ways, yet no importance need be attached to it. (I never
had been able to believe in “ tokens ” or forewarnings of any kind,
and I always accounted for such things as illusory or purely
imaginary.)
But three weeks later when I read in the Dayton “ Daily Demo-
crat ” this startling headline "Small-Pox at Los Angeles’’ a new
signification seemed added to my dream.
Time passed on, February, March and nearly all of April, and
although letter after letter was dispatched to G , no answers were
returned. Finally a letter from his only brother here, begging G
“ for God's sake to break his long silence if life enabled him yet to
do so ” brought the reply that G had had the small-pox, had
suffered severely, but that he was now better and would come home
soon.
G came home in May. He had fully recovered and was look-
ing well. Of course I naturally referred to his having had the small-
pox and I asked him “ Why did you come and tell me G when
you had the small-pox? ” (His brother had already told him about
my dream.) G laughed and said "Don’t know, it was the
510 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
strangest thing I ever did do. I did not know myself, that I had
come and told you, until W (his brother) told me that I had.”
“ Was you sick on the night of February 16th ? ” I asked him.
He answered, “ Yes, I was."
“ Did you sit down that night and hold a handkerchief to your
face ? ” I questioned next.
“ I don't think I did,” G replied.
“Are you sure you didn’t?”
“ Well, next to sure."
" Did you lie on a narrow, dark colored single bed ? ”
“ I did, for a God’s fact.”
Some one asked him at that, “ Was you thinking in particular of
home that night, or wishing you was here ? ”
G replies, “ Don’t ask me. Imagine yourself three thousand
miles from home, all among strangers, sick from a frightful disease
that is decimating the town, the pest-house before you, ther\ ask
yourself if you would think about home or wish you was there?
I’ll tell you how it was,” he went on : “ The small-pox was as thick
as blazes, and I had been vaccinated in the hope of escaping them,
but there was little chance for me in the business I followed to
escape exposure to the disease [he drove a public coach]. I was
vaccinated on the first Monday in February” (that was the 7th)
“ and about a week later, one night, I don’t remember the exact
date, I was sick, most wretchedly sick, with all the symptoms of
genuine small-pox. I felt the fever coming over me in great hot
waves, and a pimply eruption was appearing upon my arms. I
didn’t want to have the small-pox, I didn't want to be marked with
them, and I had mortal dread of the pesthouse, which was then re-
ceiving inmates every day. I was half delirious with the pain and
fever in my head. I did not want the people in the house to know
I was getting the small-pox. I got up off my bed and lit a light and
looked into the looking glass to see if the eruption was showing in
my face. My face was as red as flannel, and in my desperation,
hoping to prevent the terrible eruption from appearing there, I —
there it is now, that is the handkerchief you saw. Aunt 1
tore a piece out of the sheet upon my bed and dipped it into cold
water and held it to my face to try to cool the fever and hinder the
eruption from appearing there. That beats anything I ever heard
of — that dream, or vision of yours, Aunt ! ” he exclaimed.
Incident.
511
The above dream and its sequel is true in every particular as
related and is submitted to the Society of Research because it has
been asking through columns of the Dayton (Ohio) Herald for
such manifestations. That dream was my first experience along
these lines, but it changed the whole current of my belief, and made
me more susceptible to subconscious teachings than I had been be-
fore. I have always felt thankful that I was worthy or able to
receive that life-sized photographic, telepathic message from a dis-
tance of three thousand miles.
I ask that all names be urithheld if any public use is made of this
strange dream of mine. There are some persons living who will
recognize it, if it should meet their eyes. Yet materialistic persons
who do not know it to be true would (as you know) call it a fake
and the dreamer a “ fraud ” or a " crazy person.”
Very respectfully yours,
N S
2. Letter By the Same to Dr. Hyslop.
I write in answer to your kind communication of April 11th.
My nephew, G S died Oct. 11, 1898, and therefore,
your first request, asking for his address, is stopped from being
answered.
For answer to your second query the addresses of persons to
whom I told my dream before I knew of its fulfillment, I will give
the addresses of the two persons to whom I told my dream imme-
diately after its occurrence, and to whom I remarked that it was no
doubt a dream like all other dreams, and had no significance. (I was
an especial unbeliever in all manifestations of what is now called
“ psychic phenomena ” and always explained or tried to explain
them away.)
Mrs. C F ,
Miss M F [daughter of Mrs. C. F.]
[Address given.]
As to where I was living when G S was in Los Angeles.
Yes, I was living in my own home here in Ohio, near to the village
of Sulphur Grove in Wayne Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.
Mrs. and her daughter (they are my sister and my niece), were
also living here, near Sulphur Grove at the time the dream and
512 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
its sequel took place. For a number of years they have lived in
Dayton.
Very respectfully yours,
N S .
P. S. Will you please let me know, later, whether or not Mrs.
F. and M. answer your questions. N. S.
3. Corroboration.
Dayton, Ohio, April 26, '09.
Dr. James Hyslop,
Sir:
Your letter was received a week ago but have been too busy to
answer sooner.
( 1 ) So far as I know Mrs. knew nothing of her nephew’s
illness, when she told me about seeing him sick and with a bandage
about his head.
(2) She told me that she saw him and that he appeared to
be sick.
(3) He seemed to be kneeling by a chair, or at the end of a
couch, and the part of his face which she saw seemed to be broken
out in sores.
(4) I do not recollect the year: it was in the eighties. After
eighty-four. Possibly as late as 87 or 88.*
I am in haste.
Yours very truly,
Mrs. C. F .
* Both statement and corroboration were written twenty-three years subse-
quent to the dream, and are therefore subject to the oft-specified limitations.
It seems certain, both from the postscript to Mrs. S.’s letter and from the
divergences in the corroboration, as well as the uncertainty as to the date
which Mrs. S. fixes definitely, that Mrs. F. writes from her unassisted, inde-
pendent memory.
The divergences in the corroboration are only those of defect and lack of
certainty as to details. The essentials are there. And we should expect the
dreamer to retain the details of her own dream better than one to whom it
was related, Indeed, it is not probable that Mrs. F. would have remembered
so much as she did except for the interest excited by the fact that she was
sister of the dreamer and aunt of the subject of the dream. — Ed.
)>JIC
Conversazione.
513
CONVERSAZIONE.
Psychical Researchers vs. Spiritualists.
“ Referring to page 229 in the May Journal, I would like to ask
how, after all, the methods of Spiritualists and psychical researchers
in presenting evidence differ. Don’t both classes appeal to facts in
the same way (leaving out of consideration the religious services of
the former) ? ” A. C. S.
The characteristic difference is similar to that between those per-
sons who, according to a statement of the chief of Scotland Yard
during the late war, kept discovering spying which they generally
failed to prove, and the detectives, who only occasionally found a spy
but frequently proved him to be such. Granting that “ occult ’’ facts
exist, it is certain that “normal ” facts are often mistaken for them.
That psychical researchers as a class are more critical is admitted by
Spiritualists, and even asseverated with emphasis and in the tone of
complaint and reproach.
It may be well to give a concrete example. My eye falls on an
article in one of the leading Spiritualist papers, out this very day
(July 1). The article is a column and a half long. The caption,
" Young Woman’s Death Predicted by Spirit,” and the tone of the
whole article, are eloquent with the conviction that the case is impos-
ingly evidential. In part, the statement is that of a lawyer, which
rouses expectation. Let us make a just summary of the facts and
see what the evidence was which so much impressed a Spiritualist
Church, the lawyer officer of a Spiritualist Church and a leading
Spiritualist paper.
1. In January a daughter of the pastor of the church was taken
ill and remained ill until her death in May.
2. On a certain occasion, the young woman’s father was en-
tranced before a company of his people, the address through his lips,
but purporting to be from a spirit, was stenographically recorded,
and in the course of it the prediction was made " that the death of
his child was near at hand.” So the lawyer affirms, and when we
read the part of the address which is printed, we find that the state-
ment is correct. The actual words were “ We realize now that very
514 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
close at hand is the call that shall take into the world of spirit otic
very dear to his soul,” and there is no question that the reference is
to the daughter.
3. The death occurred within 48 hours after the statement was
made.
This is the whole case, on the affirmative side. The Spiritualist
points to the fact that the event was foretold and that within two
days it took place, and asks if it is not wonderful I This is the char-
acteristic Spiritualist way of dealing with evidence, even when a
Spiritualistic lawyer reports it.
But the psychical researcher, while he cheerfully admits that all
the judges in the land assembled could not prove that this was not a
spirit prediction, nevertheless maintains that there is not a single fact
in the statement as made which even tends to prove that it was.
The justification for this statement is found in (1) express ad-
missions in the prefatory account and the trance address, which are
duly reported but which do not seem at all to attract Spiritualist
attention, and (2) silence regarding particulars which appear not to
possess importance from the Spiritualistic point of view, but which
possess much in the view of psychical research.
1. The young woman had been ill nearly five months.
2. She had been very ill, for the trance address says that her
father had hoped in vain to receive from the other side “ assurance
that the life of his loved one, as it is ordinarily understood, would
conquer death.”
3. The father, whose lips gave out the message, knew that she
could not live, for the address contains the words “ He has known
that it must come for a long time."
4. Not a word is said to assure us that no outward change for
the worse had that very day, perhaps, come. Not a word to shut
out the possibility that the doctor had told the father that his
daughter might die any day, could not live a week. This may not
have been so, but the Spiritualists did not see that it was a fact im-
portant to determine before presenting the case as evidential. The
message did not say that she would die within 48 hours. It only
affirmed that death was “ very close at hand," and a week or even
ten days comes within the limits of that expression.
For the reasons that the girl had been ill a long time, that she
was very ill, that she was known to be fated to die, that no testimony
Conversazione.
515
is given of the absence of reasons to believe that the end was very
near, and finally for the reason that the father could easily have
formed at least a subconscious judgment to that effect which came
out in automatic script and which had much likelihood of being ful-
filled, the psychical researcher is compelled to conclude that the case
is not evidential in the least.
But it is evidence to a Spiritualist lawyer and a leading Spiritual-
ist journal.
The profound depths of logical befuddlement to which the Spirit-
ualistic cast of mind can descend may be illustrated by a note, printed
in the same paper, May 27th, 1922:
I want to thank your good paper and Mr. Keeler for the message
contained in The Progressive Thinker of April 29, from Ray F. Liv-
ermore to his son. Dr. Frank Livermore. However, my husband, Dr.
Livermore, has joined his father in the summer land some four
months ago. While we knew his father was with us, guiding and
directing us, it is indeed gratifying to receive a message. Thanking
you again for the message and with kindest wishes for your contin-
ued success in spreading this wonderful truth,
— Glenna S. Livermore.
It would have been quite easy to have posited a solution of the
problem why the father sent a message to his son three months after
the latter died'. We could guess that the son went to some other
sphere or plane and his father had not yet encountered him and had
been too busy to learn that he had left the earth. But the lady is
capable of picturing her husband as actually having “ joined his
father in the summer land,” and his guiding and directing us " on
earth and yet not being aware that his son was with him and had
left those whom he was guiding on earth, after three months* enjoy-
ment of the son’s society I
Please distinctly understand that I am not charging, and I do not
think, that no Spiritualists understand what evidence and logic are
better than is indicated in the two cases cited. But there is no organ
of the cult in the land known to me which will not print such stuff,
and the average evidential standard of adherents is not high. That
there is a characteristic difference between psychical researchers and
Spiritualists in this respect is sufficiently indicated by the fact that
516 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the latter commonly allege that the former are sceptical and “ out to
disprove " simply because they are cautious and painstaking.
What I assert is also asserted in substance by the intelligentsia
among the Spiritualists themselves. A writer in The National Spir-
itualist for June 17th, 1922, thus expresses her disgust at what she
commonly sees and hears.
Often the position of Spiritualism is erroneously established in a
community by the vagaries, the crudities of undeveloped mentalities
— the senseless jargon of those who, having felt a “ chill ” and having
visions of cheap notoriety or golden harvest, go forth as the
anointed. * * *
One sister is called before another to give messages or to “ lec-
ture.” The aggrieved “ pulls out ” ; starts a new society, which, per-
haps like Mr. Finnigan’s turnip, for a while ‘‘grows and grows,”
then runs to top. Lecture! In the vernacular of the funny page,
“ Oh, ye guides! ”
The average audience will listen awe-struck to the most puerile
utterances, the veriest drivel, if the speaker’s eyes be closed in the
self-delusion of trance. This much for the inordinate demand for
phenomena. The speaker addressing an audience from a normal
standpoint, speaking for the sacred truth of Spiritualism from knowl-
edge acquired by study, by experience, by reasoning processes of
analysis and deduction, may speak to vacant minds and locked hearts.
We hear speakers apologize for the time they give to exposition
of the philosophy and religion of the cause they represent. “ I will
speak briefly ; I know you want the phenomena.”
Of course we want the phenomena. The phenomena are the
foundation of Spiritualism. But why cater to greed? Why deliber-
ately draw the veil to obscure a shining countenance? Week after
week we see the same eager seekers after knowledge put up ques-
tions relating to material matters, demanding messages from their
'* dear loved ones ” which shall advise them as to trivial subjects.
• * *
The horde of the disgruntled is another impeding force in the
growth of Spiritualism. Everywhere one goes is the cry for the
truth of our assertion — there is no death. And anyone — or nearly
everyone — who shivers and shakes, concludes shivering and shaking
constitute mediumship, and following after Mark, whose watchword
was “ straightway,” proceeds to demonstrate that “ there is no
death.” * * *
Another discerning Spiritualist, in the same paper and issue, re-
views the queer book called The Twentieth Plane.
Conversazione.
51 7
There never has been such a group of personalities from the
spirit side gathered together at one time, and there never will be.
Lincoln, Emerson, Whitman, Ingersoll, Coleridge, Wordsworth,
Shelley, Shakespeare, Spinoza, Disraeli, Hubbard, Aristotle, Socra-
tes, Plato, Pythagoras, Sappho, Tennyson, Voltaire, and many
others, blithely frisk through these pages. As a final flourish Jesus
contributes an address.
It is a crime against these great names to publish such stuff as
coming from them. There is not one line in the book that is evi-
dential. The only assumed spirit that seems anywhere nearly natural
is “ Shelley.” At times his tone rises to the height of “ Queen Mab.”
There is not a syllable even here to indicate identity. But the ef-
fusions of all the rest are simply pitiable. If the mixture of controls
and subconscious minds which rattled off this stuff to the chimes of
great names didn’t know any better, the editors should have.
As every scientific Spiritualist knows, the Cosmography of the
Spirit World that is set forth in this book is pure fable. There is no
" twentieth ” plane, nor “ fifth ” plane, nor any other plane, in the
sense used in this book — any more than there is a twentieth plane in
music or art * * *
Amid the deluge of drivel in these days, both spoken and written,
let all real Spiritualists learn to pray: God save us from our
friends ! — M. A. B.
518 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
BOOK REVIEWS.
Elements of Psychical Phenomena. By Helen C. Laubert,I93i.
The “ Elements of Psychical Phenomena ” by Helen C. Lambert,
1921, is a booklet of 28 pages of clear, simple, succinct statements re-
garding various types of psychic experience and the terminology in use
in psychic research denoting such experience. The writer of the little
volume speaks from the angle of personal understanding of almost all
the matters in the book. She can therefore throw light that no mere
investigator can upon the subject she treats. She has long been known
to the A. S. P. R. as a careful experimenter and records of her ex-
periences and material of hers appeared in some of the early publications
of the Society. Her new booklet supplies just the need we have long
felt for a brief resume of psychic research up to the present time, and
is useful for strangers to the subject and beginners in the study. It
is hard to see how it could be improved upon except in two or three
statements as to matters of theory and still in debate, which are repre-
sented as settled. Members of the Society will find it useful for distri-
bution to those who have an intelligent interest. — G. O. T.
Spiritualism: Its Present-Day Meaning : A Symposium. Edited by
Huntley Carter. Pp. 187. London, 1920.
This volume is a collection of short articles by a great number of
persons (of whom the majority are English) in reply to a series of
questions sent out by the Editor. These questions are:
1. What, in your opinion, is the situation as regards the renewed
interest in psychic phenomena?
2. In your view does this psychic renewal denote —
(A) A passing from a logical and scientific (deductive) to a
spiritual and mystic (inductive) conception of life? or,
(B) A reconciliation between the two, that is, between science and
faith ?
(A) For, or
(B) Against, human survival?
3. What, in your opinion, is the most powerful argument?
4. What, in your opinion, is the best means of organizing this
movement in the highest interest, philosophical, religious and scientific,
of the nation, especially as a factor of durable peace?
The book is divided into two parts, Religion and Science, each of
which contains divisions and subdivisions. Each subdivision is written
by a person selected by the Editor for some reason best known to him-
self, and it is here that the contributors attempt to answer the ques-
tions put to them. The majority of those questioned being incompetent
to express any opinion have naturally found great difficulty in writing
intelligent answers. Anyone can answer any question, but the value
of the answer depends on the writer’s knowledge of the subject in
dispute. In England the greatest confusion appears to exist between
Book Reviews.
519
Spiritualism and psychical research. The essence of Spiritualism con-
sists in the belief that the human personality survives death, and this
opinion is supported by a variety of alleged facts which go to show
that the discamate can communicate with the living, and at times are
even able to influence matter. The ordinary believing Spiritualist is
far more inclined (although quite wrongly) to lay more stress upon
the physical phenomena than upon the mental, partly because the former
class appeals to his sense of the miraculous and partly because he is
too lazy or too stupid to make a serious study of trance communica-
tions. He bases his belief, however, upon certain alleged facts or
occurrences, the investigation of which is the primary work comprised
under the title of psychical research. No opinion therefore that is to
be of any value can be given on the subject of Spiritualism by people,
who are not intimately acquainted with the methods of research em-
ployed in dealing with supernormal phenomena. In the collection of
views comprised in this volume, we find the. names of many persons
who are peculiarly vocal when it comes to the subject of Spiritualism,
but whose knowledge of the problems involved is of the slenderest
We welcome the opinions of such writers as Prof. Bergson, Mrs. Sidg-
wick, Sir William Barrett, Mr. Gow, Mr. Mead, Mr. Sinnett, or “ JE,"
but why should we attend to the views of Dr. Wakefield, Canon
McClure, Mr. Magee, Father Vaughan, Dr. Horton, Sir A. Yapp, Sir
Bryan Donkin, or the Rev. Walter Wynn?
The views of so called “ representative men and women " are usu-
ally irritating, but this is especially the case when we are dealing with
a subject which it is supposed that anyone can argue about but which
in reality requires more study and concentrated thought than many of
the physical sciences which no layman would ever think of discussing
at all. — E. J. Dincwaix.
Activism. By Henry L. Eno. Princeton University Press, 1920. Pp.
208.
The day is long past since science was obliged to go beyond the
limits of observation, and to call to its aid imaginative hypotheses;
and the latter are rapidly increasing in number and complexity until
they threaten to surpass the dogmas of theology and the myths of
folklore. The solid world we knew has given place to solar systems
of electrons. Now come further assaults upon matter, in the hope of
reducing to unity the physical world and consciousness. One of these
assaults, from the standpoint of mathematics and the epistemology of
Kant, is that of P. D. Ouspensky in Tertium Orgonum, reviewed in the
Journal of May, 1921.
Another attack, from the philosophical standpoint, is that of the
present volume, by a research associate in Psychology at Princeton.
The new term " activism ” designates activity as an underlying hy-
pothesis. Anything that produces a change, without which the universe
would be different, is an “ activity." Professor Eno prefers this word
to “ being,” because conceivably there may be beings which make no
difference and cause no changes. Activity is known to us chiefly in
the form of “ intensify, ” which in turn is determined by elements of
“ amount,” " range,” “ persistence ” and “ exclusion.” The system is
in general agreement with the position of the neo-realists; but it is
520 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
also pan-psychic, and as against pragmatism upholds the independent
existence of values and ideals. To the realistic basis, Professor Eno
adds psychic atomism. Electrons are composed of “ psychons " or
units of awareness; and these latter are composed of entities like uni-
versals, logical propositions, numerical series, and ethical values,
(p. 138).
Of course, if this hypothesis were true, a contact with non-material
beings would be more easily explained than on current theories, as
well as telepathic awareness of each other by various psycho-com-
plexes. It is curious how nearly this theory, worked up from a
scientific angle, corresponds to certain Rosicrucian and theosophic
teachings. There are difficulties in explaining space-perception, the
senses, and psycho-physiological relations in atomistic terms; but so
there are for the current theories. Why should a quantitative differ-
ence in the atoms of two substances result in qualitative differences
in the compounds?
Professor Eno regards the question of survival as an empirical one.
Nevertheless the fact of survival, if proved, would be entirely con-
sonant with his system. He says (pp. 173-74): “Now indubitably
Activism has a place for personal survival. For a psycho-kinetic unitary
complex could perfectly well exist in possession of its various activities
whether or not it also formed, or were in correlation with, an electronic
or atomic complex upon the planes below. (Professor Eno places ab-
stract entities at the top of the scale and physical organisms at the
bottom. )
“ Such an awareness complex would, of course, presumably be cut
off (although even this does not necessarily follow) from the charac-
teristic activities of the lower planes; but it would not be cut off from
relations to the activities of its own plane or the planes above. Its
total activity — its life — might conceivably be as full, or fuller than in
that form in which we know it here. As an awareness complex it
would conceivably still be in relation to other awareness complexes
— discarnatc, or possibly under peculiar conditions, incarnate — as well
as be entirely aware of its own intensive changes."
Whatever logical or psychological objections may be made to Pro-
fessor Eno's theory, and his attempt to reduce qualitative differences
to quantitative, or at any rate to measure the former by the latter,
this brief essay has the merit, not always found in current philosophical
discussion, of being refreshingly clear and concise. — Prescott F. Hall.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, London,
England.
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Woking, England.
Prof. Sir We. F. Barrett, London,
England.
♦Viscount James Bryce, Forest
Row, England.
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England.
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zerland.
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Austria.
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Stanford University, Cat
Prop. C G. Junc, Kiissnach, Switzer-
land.
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England.
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Prof. William McDougall, Oxford
University, England.
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♦Lord Rayleigh, Witham, England.
Prof. Charles Richet, Paris, France.
Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
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Notzinc, Munich, Germany.
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Switzerland.
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Hon. Everard Feildinc, London,
England.
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land.
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land.
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CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
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Conn. versity. New York City.
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Mass. Canada.
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Deceased.
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FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Inc.
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Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. October, 1922 No. 10
CONTENTS
PAGE
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
A Noteworthy Discussion ....... 521
GENERAL ARTICLES:
On the Spiritistic Hypothesis. By Professor Richet .
The Hypothesis of Survival. By Sir Oliver Lodge
The Survival of Dogmatism. By Walter F. Prince .
Notes From Periodicals. By George H. Johnson
Mediumistic Experiments With Mrs. Borden. By Mrs. “Marian
W. Spencer”
522
527
533
553
556
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jOOSf
O
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL. President
John I. D. Bristol.. Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDoucall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.S., Chairman ex -officio. Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock. S.B, PhD,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L. Dana, M.D., LLD, Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D, New York.
N. Y.
Irvino Fisher, Ph.D, Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, CaL
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M, Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, FAA.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempffert, B.S, LLB,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Baltimore, Md
Wiluam R. Newbold, PhD, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LLD, New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LLD, Boston,
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael L Pupin, Ph.D, LLD,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LLD, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, PhD, Bos-
ton, Mass.
V
TRUSTEES.
w»-
Titus Bl
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman tx-offido.
Weston D. Bayley, MD.
Titus Bull, M.D.
Miles M. Dawson.
Mrs. Margaret Deland.
Rev. Frederick Edwards.
George H. Hyslop, MD.
Lawson Purdy.
VOLUME XVI— No. 10
OCTOBER. 10**
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Pidl
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT 081
GENERAL ARTICLES:
On the Spiritistic Hypothesis. By Pro-
Itmor Richet 088
The Hypothesis of Survival. By Sir
Oliver Lodge 087
Pa*b
The Survival of Dogmatism. By
Walter F. Prince. .... #53
Notes From Periodicals , 003
Mediumistic Experiments With Mr«.
Borden. By Mrs. “Marin W. **
Spencer.” 400
BOOK REVIEWS
The responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
rests entirely with the writers thereof. Where, for good reason, the writer’s true name
Is withheld, it la preserved on file, and is that of a person apparently trustworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
A N oteworthy Discussion.
The publication of Traitc de M etapsychique by Professor
Richet is being followed by an amicable discussion between him
on the one hand, and Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr. Geley on the
other. Readers may learn Richet’s position by reference to pages
416-418 of the August Journal. In this issue is printed his re-
joinder to Lodge, translated for the Journal by Sir Oliver, and
the reply of the latter. Later we shall present a considerable
portion of Dr. Geley’s argument. Professor Richet’s book will
be reviewed for us by Dr. Henry Holt.
C_«QO«3l'i
522 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ON THE SPIRITISTIC HYPOTHESIS.
Professor Richet’s Reply to Sir Oliver Lodge.
In the Rcrme Mctapsychique for June, 1922.
(Translated for the Journal by Sir Oliver Lodge.)
My illustrious friend, Sir Oliver Lodge, has explained with
remarkable precision the spiritistic hypothesis, separating it from
vain credulities and keeping to what is essential. And I am sure
that he will pardon me if after having read and meditated on this
article and on his other writings I am unable to share his opin-
ion. But after all it is the facts that matter. The theories that
we can construct on these facts readily lend themselves to diverg-
ences more or less profound. The essential thing is that the facts
themselves shall be accepted : and here both Lodge and I are in
complete accord. The whole assemblage of facts, whether one
calls them spiritistic, or occult, or metaphysical, is true, authentic,
and indestructible. Whatever may be the errors, illusions, frauds,
— and there is a great number of all these — there remain some in-
disputable and authentic phenomena, before which every kind of
authority will ultimately have to bend.
Now then we come to their interpretation, or rather to the
conclusions which one can draw from these experimentally estab-
lished facts.
According to the spiritistic hypothesis everything is relatively
simple. The personality of the dead is not extinguished by the
death of the brain. The consciousness of George Pelham re-
appears when Mrs. Piper speaks, that of Raymond Lodge when
Mrs. Leonard and Feda are there, that of Myers when Mrs. Ver-
rall writes. The hypothesis is clear and bold. It is based upon very
striking resemblances which can be summarized by saying that
the words of George Pelham, of Raymond Lodge, of Frederic
Myers, are almost exactly what they would have pronounced if
they had been living among us. There appear also reminiscences
so personal, phrases so characteristic, an ensemble so coherent,
that the simplest hypothesis is to suppose the survival of their
personality.
It must be understood in saying this that I do not take into
On the Spiritistic Hypothesis.
523
account the innumerable absurdities, which often occur through
the voices or in the writing of mediums, and which by themselves
might make the spiritistic theory impossible to defend. To dis-
cuss the question loyally, one must attend to the most serious
cases, — those in which facts that only the dead knew are conveyed
through the medium. These cases exist. They are not numer-
ous: they are indeed rare. But their frequency does not matter.
Even a few well-established would authorize the hypothesis of
survival.
I say authorize, I do not say justify, for other explanations
than survival appear to me possible, indeed probable, and it is
precisely here that I dissent from Lodge.
To choose an example, a medium indicates with precision that
a certain photograph has been taken, and adds a characteristic
detail: the hand of one of Raymond’s comrades rests on his
shoulder. At the time when these words were said, no one in
England could know that such a photograph had been taken, still
less that it contained this characteristic detail.
Here, then, is the fact. It is evidently not attributable to
chance. What, then, can we deduce from it ? Either that Ray-
mond Lodge has returned, or that the medium, endowed with
lucidity and clairvoyance, has spoken of this photograph because
she got the notion of it, as she gets the notion of other real things,
somehow, without the necessary intervention of any particular
discamate person.
Now this second conclusion appears to me much more admis-
sible than the first, because it necessitates no hypothesis at all. A
knowledge of reality by avenues other than the normal senses is
an indisputable fact. Clairvoyance, lucidity, second-sight, crypt-
jesthesia exist, — the word matters little. But in order not to fall
among adventurous suppositions, I shall not go into the question
of a hereafter.
And I can give reasons why I cannot go into that question.
I. The argument that the medium merely says: “I am
George Pelham,” “ I am Frederic Myers,” “ I am speaking with
Raymond Lodge,” — this argument is of no value, for all mediums
have an invincible tendency to personify such and such an indi-
viduality. They imagine this personality, or one imagines it for
them ; for one can fabricate for them imaginary personalities ad
524 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
libitum. They accept everything. Nothing then is more rational
than to admit this personification. But if one once admits the
possibility of imaginary personification, — and it is impossible not
to admit it, for there are thousands of proofs, and the experience
can be repeated as often as one will — the intervention of an
unconscious personality becomes altogether superfluous and
gratuitous.
In other words in order to believe that the consciousness of
George Pelham has survived, it does not suffice that Mrs. Piper
makes that affirmation to me, and even if after having said “ I
am George Pelham,” she goes on to report facts known only to
George Pelham, that also will not help me, for the unconscious-
ness of Mrs. Piper knows a quantity of things which her senses
have not told her of ; and by her lucidity she can attribute them
to the personality of George Pelham which she has imagined.
Lodge says that “ lucidity” is only a word. Alas, yes, it is
only a word : but it is a word that indicates a fact, a phenomenon.
Assuredly it is not an explanation. Words do not explain phe-
nomena, they formulate them. When I say ** vision ” I am not
explaining vision. I am signifying that light striking the eyes
provokes a reaction in the consciousness and a visual perception.
So also if I say “ cryptaesthesia ” I indicate that our intelligence
is informed by some unknown vibration that such and such phe-
nomenon is occurring at a distance.
I repeat it. If anyone is going to deny this lucidity, it will
certainly not be Sir Oliver Lodge. He does not doubt that he has
proved it a hundred times, a thousand times: but instead of at-
tributing it to a living human intelligence, he attributes it, — at
least in certain exceptional, rare cases — to the intelligence of a dis-
camate person who has returned.
II. Lodge reproaches me for making a fetish of the brain,
that is to say, for considering cerebral integrity as a necessary
condition for memory.
Well, I avow it without shame. I do not believe, until there
is proof to the contrary, that there can be any memory without
brain : for the phenomena of memory are so exactly parallel to the
physiological conditions of cerebral life that dissociation appears
to me impossible. Just as the light emitted by a lamp is a func-
tion of the quantity of carbon which is burned and of the integ-
On the Spiritistic Hypothesis.
525
rity of the organs of the lamp, so also conscious memory is a
function of cerebral integrity and of intercerebral physiological
combustion. When the heart stops, memory ceases; that is
“ syncope.” When oxygen is insufficient, memory disappears ;
that is “ asphyxia.” When chloroform poisons the nervous cells,
memory is extinguished ; that is “ anaesthesia.” This is true of
the memory not only of man but of all animals; for the human
cerebral apparatus is not essentially different from the cerebral
apparatus of a dog or a squirrel, even of a tortoise or a frog. To
whatever extent the cerebral apparatus becomes more compli-
cated, the intelligence becomes vaster, the memory more extended
and more prolonged: but at bottom there is always acting a
nervous mechanism, provided by organs which may be more and
more perfect, but which are analogous in principle. The memory
of a dog and the memory of a man are phenomena of the same
order: but the increase in complexity of the cerebral apparatus
causes the results to be more and more complicated.
Lodge says that memory survives death. But what proof can
he give except the affirmation of mediums that they are bringing
the imperfect reminiscences of certain people. On the other hand
all physiological and psychological experiments demonstrate a
narrow and inexorable parallelism between memory and cerebral
life, — all, all without exception. The connexion is so intimate,
so constant, that it would need very formidable proofs to make
me say that here there is no relation of cause and effect; just as
it would need formidable proofs to make me declare that one can
get light from a lamp when the lamp is broken.
III. The comparison with a musician who has no instrument
is ingenious, but, alas, does not affect me. For I have no reason
to believe in the musician ! I only know the instrument, an instru-
ment which is like an automatic piano, frightfully complex but
actuated in such a way that under the influence of an exterior
impulse the hammers play such and such a melody. The differ-
ence between automatic music and cerebral life is only that in
cerebral life there is consciousness, while there is none in auto-
matic music. But the fact of consciousness, whether absent or
present, in no way changes the automatic character of the
phenomenon.
As for melody it exists in itself, independently of music and
526 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of consciousness. When one says : every effect has a cause, one
announces a truth which is anterior to all human existence and
which has nothing to (lo with any personality whatever, whether
surviving or not. A thought which has emanated from a brain
spreads out in every direction like the light of a lamp in space.
It is a vibration which lasts for a short time and is then
extinguished.
IV. But I will not further prolong this negation of the spirit-
istic theory, for I know too well what astonishing and rapid trans-
formations can occur in science. Although all may be still
obscure, and profoundly obscure, progress is rapid: and it is
almost as imprudent to deny as to affirm. The future, the im-
mense future, is open.
At the same time at present we must recognize, it seems to me,
that the spiritistic theory is terribly fragile. It has against it the
exact parallelism of brain and memory, as well as the evident
animality of the human intelligence. In its favor are only two
very feeble supports; first the affirmation of mediums that they
are controlled by such and such personality, and then their pro-
duction of reminiscences and information specially appropriate to
the dead person. And even so we have to make an exceptional
choice and selection from the documents and best records, for
good observations are extremely few. They are apt to be lost
amid a cruel jungle of futile ridiculous phrases, religious rather
than scientific.
So then, until the beginning of a proof has been brought to
me, I shall regard the spiritistic theory as a working hypothesis,
convenient and perhaps useful for the study of the phenomena, —
but nothing more. Lodge believes that the spiritistic theory is
true. I believe that it is neither demonstrated nor probable. But
that does not hinder either of us from making the same experi-
ments: for neither Lodge nor I are accustomed to make ex-
periments in order to justify or condemn any theory. We ob-
serve and we experiment in order to know and to understand.
Where this research will bring us we neither of us can divine.
What we know, both of us, and very strongly, is that we shall
conform to any acquired results: for we are both ready to adopt,
wholly and resolutely, whatever corresponds to experimental
truth.
The Hypothesis of Survival.
52 7
THE HYPOTHESIS OF SURVIVAL.
A Friendly Comment on Prof. Richet's Article by Sir
Oliver Lodge.
It is a comfort that my good friend Charles Richet and I are
agreed about the main facts, and only differ as to their interpre-
tation. But let me eliminate at once from the facts bearing on
that interpretation any bare assertion made through a medium,
such as, “ I am George Pelham, etc." Of course I entirely agree
that any such bare affirmation carries no weight whatever. The
conviction of persistent personal identity is not bom of mere
assertions. I am accustomed of late years to get a large number
of messages sent me from different parts of the world, purporting
to come from my son Raymond : but I do not accept them as so
coming. They do not bear his stamp: and the likelihood of per-
sonation is never absent from my mind. Moreover when I have
an opportunity of catechizing him about the most reasonable of
such messages, he repudiates most of them; though a few here
and there he accepts as genuine to a certain extent, though he says
they only partially convey what he intended to say.
Conviction of personal identity is a slow growth, not based
upon any one instance, but gradually built up from each occur-
rence of the display of specific knowledge appropriate to that
person alone, and still further strengthened by the slight nuances
and personal traits, — difficult to exhibit in print — which are char-
acteristic of the individual, and which make the same kind of im-
pression as is made normally by the bodily presence or speech or
writing of a well-known friend. If Prof. Richet were to ring me
up on a telephone and if I could hear his voice and a few of his
characteristic and delightful exclamations, I should not easily sup-
pose that a clever impersonator was at the other end of the line
But the proof would not be crucial even then, for dramatic im-
personation is a possibility. And still less would it be crucial if
the communicator had to dictate what he wanted to say to an
operator or amanuensis, so that I only received the substance of
his message. I mention these two possibilities of evidence be-
cause both kinds have actually occurred in my conversations with
528 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the other side, and every such instance adds its strength, such as
it is, to the whole bundle of evidence. If furthermore the mes-
sage is found to refer to facts or incidents which only Richet and
I knew, the proof would be still further strengthened, and the
vague hypothesis of mere lucidity on the part of a medium would
be thrown into the background. For it would be as difficult to
attribute exactly the right kind of lucidity, in each of a multitude
of cases, to any one telegraph operator, as it would be to suppose
that such operator was influenced telepathically in a deceptive
and dramatizing fashion by my own subconscious knowledge.
Proof would be further clinched by the reception of information
which neither I nor anyone in the neighborhood knew but which
was subsequently verified by inquiry from relatives or by exami-
nation of documents belonging to the deceased: especially if simi-
lar matters were referred to through three or four independent
mediums, each of them apparently controlled by one and the same
intelligence. If this sort of evidence went on accumulating for
years, — not only in my own case but in the case of a large number
of bereaved persons who had been brought anonymously to the
instrument, and who all felt that they had got into touch with
their loved ones on the other side, whom they found waiting and
eager to speak — the proof would ultimately become irresistible.
That, in brief summary, is my position at present. So that 1
venture to say, with all respect to those who hold otherwise or
who are incredulous of the possibility of any such phenomenon, —
among whom are many who have not had so full an experience of
this particular class of phenomenon as I have been favored with —
that to seek to explain the facts in their entirety by any kind of
personating or dramatizing lucidity on the part of an operator
would be a gratuitous raising of. obstacles and evasion of the
straightforward course. This may sound merely a dogmatic
statement, but without apparent dogmatism it is difficult to be
both brief and forcible: and in order truly to represent my posi-
tion it is my desire to be both.
Furthermore I venture to ask Prof. Richet whether he would
not admit that the postulate of general vague universal lucidity
does not demand too much. If information in all directions is
available to a sensitive entranced medium, what is it which causes
precisely the right kind of information to be selected and supplied
The Hypothesis of Survival.
529
to the right person, — that person being by hypothesis a stranger?
If there is no real personality behind the messages, but only a
cosmic picture gallery or reference library of information; if the
scribe or automatist is dependent on his own impersonal faculty
of clairvoyance, whereby he has access to a whole reservoir of
miscellaneous undigested information about everybody; think
what confusion would be likely to result. Strange indeed would
the faculty be which should enable a person encountering say fifty
different strangers in the course of a year to disentangle the af-
fairs of all of them, to refer to the set appropriate to each on the
right occasion, and thereafter to keep them distinct and consecu-
tive at every future opportunity. An elaborate system of book-
keeping or filing would be needed, a sort of general clearing-
house, in which the appropriate facts could be docketed, and the
fine shades of manner and relationship also recorded, so as to be
accessible at a moment’s notice when called for.
No, this is not the way it is done. The personal facts are re-
membered, naturally enough, by each, individual personality: the
characteristic traits, the fine shades of manner and expression,
belong definitely to the person who in this life possessed them.
They become accessible — oddly enough — through the singular
channel of mediumship, whereby the person himself becomes
temporarily accessible. If we admit that, the facts all fall into
line with ease and clearness, in the way we are accustomed to find
facts fit together in science when we are on the pathway of truth.
I doubt not that Prof. Richet would realize all this if he had
had as full first-hand experience of the mental as he has had of
the physical class of phenomenon, and if he were not fortified
against such a view by the conviction that brain is essential to
thought and memory, and that when the organism is damaged or
destroyed the personality is damaged or destroyed too.
That is really the parting of the ways between us. We both
of us fully admit the normal facts which he adduces. No one
doubts that a man hit on the head with a brick is incompetent to
express himself, and that his mental processes, whatever they may
be, are no longer accessible to us. No one doubts that the brain
is the organ whereby mind is able to influence and move matter,
and thereby hold communication, in accordance with the laws of
energy and the automatic processes of Physics and Chemistry.
530 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
How this influence is exerted we do not know. But we do know
that if the mechanism is injured the influence ceases. A very
little poisoning of the transmitting nervous fibres will interrupt
communication. So will a section or a bad leak in an Atlantic
cable. By that means indeed, in the early days of cable-laying, all
communication with the cable-laying ship suddenly became im-
possible. The ship might have sunk or gone out of existence.
But that was not the natural hypothesis : it was not the supposition
made by those on shore. They worked on a simpler supposition,
that something had gone wrong with the medium of communica-
tion or with the apparatus on board the ship. And their optimism
was justified, for in time, through a repaired cable, communica-
tion was restored; until to-day the miracle of 1857 and 1865 has
become a commonplace to which few give a moment’s thought.
Still the mode of connection between Mind and Matter is an
unsolved philosophic problem. Richet is satisfied with the idea
of psycho-physical parallelism. I am not. I need actual inter-
action,— not parallelism — nor yet epiphenomenalism. Mind and
Matter are constantly operating on each other, and the controlling
influence is mind.
“ Spiritus intus alit, rotamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.” *
* Spirit animates everything, and, permeating every part,
Mind governs matter and blends with the majestic whole.
Virgil's is a true interpretation of familiar fact, and a bald Ma-
terialism is incomplete as a philosophy.
Richet cannot accept my mind and brain analogue of the
musician and his instrument, for he “ cannot accept the musician.”
The instrument he requires for the analogy is not a violin or a
piano, but a pianola, self-driven or at least self-guided, producing
the music automatically. He appears satisfied with the doctrine
of animal and human automatism, attributed to Descartes, and
supported on at least one important occasion by Huxley.
All analogies are necessarily defective, but if I had seriously
to contemplate his illustration of the pianola, I should have to
ask : How did the roll of paper get into the instrument, and what
The Hypothesis of Survival.
531
perforated its holes? The reply would be: Another machine.
Granted. But what arranged the sequence and co-existence of
the perforations? Is there no Bach or Beethoven ultimately be-
hind it all ?
But if worked thus the analogy would lead us not into the
philosophic question of the relation between Mind and Matter,
but into the more extensive region of Theology. I do not shirk
that region, but it is outside the bounds for our present purpose.
So I content myself with maintaining that a violin is incomplete
without the performer, that a high-speed motor-car without a
driver is but a blind fury, and that the element of Mind and Guid-
ance runs through not only humanity but the animal and in some
sort the vegetable kingdom also.
Do I then look for survival of personality in those kingdoms?
No, not unless personality really exists in them. You cannot
have survival of a non-existence. The element of individual
character and personality seems specifically human, though it may
be found to some extent in the higher animals. For the rest, the
guiding and directing principle that we call Life need not necessar-
ily involve such an element of individuality as would call for in-
dividual permanence. Persistence as a whole, yes. Continuity,
yes. I do not believe in any reality going completely out of ex-
istence. Just as energy may exhibit itself in protean form, may
be handed on from one object to another without loss, and may
interact with another and another frame of things for ever, so it
seems to me likely that life too in its lower forms may be con-
served, and may construct and control the mechanism of body
after body, without necessarily gaining any such element of
identity as would justify the idea of the probable persistence of
each individual. The element of persistent personality makes its
appearance at a higher stage.
But now I am travelling too far afield, and entering on thorny
topics on which differences of opinion are likely and legitimate.
I have enough to do to seek to endeavor gradually to convince
Professor Richet, and after him a number of eminent scientific
Materialists, that their philosophy is defective, and that Mind in
its essence is independent of the material organism which it con-
structs and uses. Although, admittedly, without the loan of an
organism of some kind, without, let us say, some form of ecto-
532 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
plasm which it can mould to its requirements, it is unable to make
its existence known to us here and now while we are so closely
interwoven with Matter and limited to our animal-derived senses
for all direct perception,
Our outlook on the universe is very partial and obscure.
Most of our studies have lain in the material direction, and the
discoveries of the nineteenth century have almost all been con-
cerned with Matter and its myriad properties. Brilliant indeed
have been the results, but they are not exclusive of another line
of inquiry. We now not only have Matter to deal with, hut the
Ether also: and what the bearing of this great entity is on the
problems of Life and Mind remains for the twentieth century to
discover. It is an entity which makes no direct appeal to our
present senses, and yet which is substantial to a degree far beyond
the substantiality of any atomic or molecular structure. That
Life and Mind interact with the Ether I feel instinctively con-
vinced, and I surmise that it is indirectly through the Ether that
they are able to act on Matter. But all this is speculation at pres-
ent, and I only mention it here to show that I am not averse from
Life having a physical vehicle of some kind, something rflore gen-
eral and fundamental and durable than any collocation of Matter.
Thus it seems quite possible that our materialistic instincts contain
an element of truth, that they will not be confounded but will be
satisfied by enlargement and modification, and that the rationality
of survival amid ethereal surroundings will become clear and
complete and satisfactory when we have all the facts before us.
Meanwhile let us cultivate our garden, and pursue truth with-
out fear or favor.
Oliver Lodge.
V. *O0;JK
The Survival of Dogmatism.
533
THE SURVIVAL OF DOGMATISM.
A REPLY TO DR. FARRAR’S " THE REVIVAL OF SPIRITISM." •
By Walter F. Prince.
If a contemporaneous critic of those early astronomers who
studied the sun, moon and stars in order to find out what they
really were had classed them with the religious cults that wor-
shipped the heavenly bodies, he would have led his readers into
confusion of thought, for superstitious study and scientific study
are not the same thing, although their subject matter is the same.
Into such .confusion of thought Dr. C. B. Farrar seems to have
fallen, judging from his article “ The Revival of Spiritism,” in
the Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, issue of June, 1921.
Certainly*the reader, if his information were confined to this ar-
ticle, would rise believing that the Society for Psychical Research,
like the Spiritualistic cult, is interested in founding a new religion,
and that there is no essential difference between the two organiza-
tions as to their methods, their actuating motives and the standing
of their published results.
To choose from a wealth of allusive and illusive sentences, we
read : “ Are the celebrated men who lead the spiritistic movement
justified in their public attitude and propaganda?” Who are
these celebrated men ? The writer had mentioned Lodge, Myers,
Hodgson, Barrett, Hyslop, Crookes, Wallace, Flammarion and
Doyle. None of these manifested sympathy with any attempt to
found a new religion except Doyle, who never had any official
connection with the Society for Psychical Research, and possibly,
in a minor degree, Wallace. Neither did any President of the
Society, or any accredited representative.
Neither the English nor the American S. P. R. is a spiritistic
•This article was sent to the Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry,
which had printed the article by Dr. Farrar, as sufficiently germane, but after
a considerable period it was judged that a reply was not suitable to the maga-
aine, which evidently has no “ Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play," like that
which one of the New York newspapers lately instituted.
534 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
movement. Both were organized for the purpose of studying by
scientific methods a certain range of facts, for the purpose of
ascertaining their true character, not in order to demonstrate any
preconceived view and especially not for propaganda. There is
far from being unanimity of views among their members or their
distinguished workers, any more than there is among psycholo-
'gists, some of whom accept while others flout the doctrine of the
subliminal mind, while some are passionate Freudians and others
violent anti-Freudians.
That Dr. Farrar is an anti-Freudian is easily gathered from
his naming arpong those who have some subject or other " an-
chored in the subcellars of the mind ” to the degree of tempera-
mental obsession, “ the ultra-freudologists.” What then would
he think of a general diatribe against psycho-therapeutics which
made Freud its principal text? Would he, as a psychiatrist, ac-
cept responsibility for what he regards as Freud’s aberrations?
But his principal text is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Now for one
— and I think that most scientific psychical researchers would
agree with me — I accept no responsibility for Doyle. I agree as
little with his religious aims as Dr. Farrar does with the dogma
of “ wish-fulfilment.” Some of his supposed evidence is as un-
satisfactory and therefore distasteful to me as is much of the evi-
dence adduced by the Freudian school to Dr. Farrar. I am not
so constituted that I can see in the “ process-dots,” found in a
spirit photograph only an interesting example of what spirits can
do. It is probable that Doyle has come into contact with many
impressive data, but he is assuredly not today an ultra critical and
discriminating witness. Nevertheless his critic has seen fit to
employ some peculiar logic in attacking him, and I shall in my
turn criticize that logic.
“ The earliest antecedents,” we are told, of the " spiritistic ”
movement are to be found in the period of the Old Testament and
that of Greece and Rome, and this is said as though it implied a
reproach. It appears to me that if purported supernormal phe-
nomena had never appeared before the nineteenth century this
would have been claimed as a damning fact. “ Why,” it would
have been demanded, “ have such things never happened before in
the long history of the race, if they happen now? ” Contrariwise,
if such phenomena are fundamental to human nature, we should
The Survival of Dogmatism. 535
expect to find them in the ages of the Old Testament and of
Greece and Rome.
But as by the magic of the pen a sinister aspect is given to the
fact that “ modern phenomena have their prototype and pattern in
the early days of our race,” so in the next paragraph “ Modem
Spiritism ” is twitted for being so young. It dates back, we are
told, only to the Hydesville rappings of 1848. “ Modem Spirit- '
ism dates from 1848,” — and if by “ modem spiritism ” we are to
understand a particular cult, the statement is correct. But if it
means phenomena such as are alleged to happen now and more or
less widespread interest therein, it is far from correct.
Andrew Jackson Davis was already known as the “ Seer " in
1843. From 1838 to 1848 phenomena ascribed to spirits swept
through all the Shaker communities in this country. On the other
side of the sea, as early as 1824 the " Seeress of Prevorst " was
seeing and talking with apparitions, manifesting psychometrical,
clairvoyant and previsionary powers, in trance states, which pre-
vailed for many years. The case was widely known. Forty
years earlier, Jung-Stilling, whose experiences so much interested
Goethe, was seeing apparitions, having premonitions, making pre-
dictions and collecting with moderately critical care accounts by
his contemporaries of all sorts of phenomena such as are alleged
today, including raps that were accustomed to sound when deaths
occurred, premonitory dreams, messages, and even the feeling of
a “ cold wind,” which accounts were published in his “ Pneuma-
tology.” In 1743 began the clairvoyant visions of the great
engineer, Swedenborg, which impressed Kant, the talks with spir-
its and angels, the dreams and otfier experiences which he related.
In 1716 came the raps, groans and poltergeist performances in the
house of John Wesley’s father which made John a believer in
spirit manifestations all his life. We go back to George Fox,
who, bom in 1624, heard voices and saw visions, made predictions
said to have been fulfilled, wrought cures and bartished obsessing
spirits. Back of this, in the sixteenth century, the “ Tremblers
of the Cevennes ’’ largely overran Germany, and these had visions,
believed that they communicated with good and evil spirits, and
performed psychical cures. Jacob Bohme, the noted mystic, bom
in 1575, had a range of experiences, did automatic writing, saw
and conversed with what Jie appeared to regard as an unearthly
536 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
visitor, heard music inaudible to others, and claimed to have seen
different spheres of the supernal world. Martin Luther, a little
earlier, heard raps, bangs and terrific noises in his room at Wart-
burg Castle, as he had earlier heard inexplicable sounds in his
monastic cell at Wittenberg. He saw apparitions which his pre-
possessions identified as the devil, exorcised and made cures. And
everyone knows, or ought to know, the story of Joan of Arc in
the thirteenth century.
The point is not that all of this list of instances, which might
be indefinitely extended, were correctly interpreted at the time,
and for present purposes it is immaterial whether they were or
not. The point is that if one cares to travel back through the
generations, he keeps running upon alleged phenomena of types
similar to those asserted to occur in our own times. Thus it is
quite erroneous to say that " modem spiritism dates from 1848.”
A certain religious cult may be said to date from 1848, but that is
a very different thing.
The matter of the Hydesville cappings is negligible from the
standpoint of psychical research, both because it is hopeless now
to determine what the facts really were, and because there are
recent and better attested cases of a similar nature. But as it is
difficult to discover what point is supposed to be gained by em-
phasizing the fact that in ancient times reputed supernormal
experiences were told similar to those claimed today, so it is quite
impossible to see what damnatory significance there is in the simi-
larity of alleged phenomena of the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury and those of our own generation. Then, we are told, “ be-
reaved parents held converse with their spirit children in dialogues
almost identical with those reported in ‘ Raymond ’ between Sir
Oliver Lodge and his departed son ; ponderous objects acquired
automotive qualities; under spirit influence the force of gravity
was set at nought, or intensified a hundred fold, just as Mr. Craw-
ford finds today in Ireland; currents of air, breezes from the
beyond, fanned the faces of the faithful," etc. I am not here
defending the authenticity of any of these alleged facts at any
period. But does the critic mean to imply that mere recurrence,
or resemblance at different dates, is in itself an indication of
falsity ? As a matter of logic, this kind of talk is on a par with
the following: *' Back in 1870 we heard the same claims as now,
The Survival of Dogmatism.
537
that aerolites fell, that there were such things as balloons which
carried men into the air, that people could be put to sleep and
made to do queer feats by suggestion, that the sun is bigger than
the earth, and there was talk about the earth being more than
6,000 years old almost identical with that in which Professor
Geologus indulges himself today.” It was this very fact that
through the ages and in isolated and widely scattered quarters
men and women have testified to similar psychic occurrences
classifiable into similar categories, which impressed thoughtful
university men in England and caused them to found a Society
for the purpose of rigorous examination of such narratives.
But that movement raises the gorge of our essayist He
employs the adroit innuendo of quotation marks when he says that
it “ stands to the ‘ credit ’ of England.” This manner of docket-
ing the single word means, of course, that he will not be respons-
ible for it, since in his opinion the Society is not a credit to Eng-
land. The founders and supporters have, he thinks, taken a
course which is foolish. Among the men who foolishly founded
the Society were Prof. Henry Sidgwick, of Cambridge Univer-
sity, called “ the most incorrigibly skeptical man in England ” ;
Frank Podmore, who, though a psychical researcher until his
death, was never a spiritist; Arthur J. Balfour, who, aside from
his great career as a statesman, has gained a reputation as a philo-
sophical thinker; Professor Balfour Stewart and William F. Bar-
rett. Among the men so misguided as to become its presidents
were Sidgwick, Stewart, Barrett and A. J. Balfour, also Pro-
fessors William James, Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge,
Charles Richet, Henri Bergson, F. C. S. Schiller, and Gilbert
Murray, besides F. W. H. Myers, Gerald W. Balfour, Andrew
Lang, Bishop Boyd Carpenter and Lord Rayleigh, not to know
all of whom is to argue oneself unknown. The last of the in-
fatuated lot is Professor William McDougall, philosophical writer
of high repute, formerly of Oxford University, now of Harvard
University and President of the American Society at the present
time. It was Gladstone who was so lost to reason as to declare
that the Society for Psychical Research was doing by far the most
important work done in the world. These are the men who must
stand humbly before Dr. C. B. Farrar, psychiatrist, to be judged.
These are the men, or most of them, under whose superintendency
538 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the experiments have been conducted, under what Dr. Farrar can-
not bring himself to say were “ ‘ test ’ conditions” without the
protection of another set of quotation marks. Some of them
even took part in the experiments, and our own William James
was not ashamed to produce some of that “ curious literature ”
as the fruit of his personal inquiries. Were the critic even more
eminent than a Farrar or a Jastrow, the race must have lost its
faculty of humor if it can stand unmoved the spectacle of such a
delicious piece of impudence as the relegation of this body of men
to the inferno of the intellectually damned.
It is regarded as significant of Doyle that “ even at this early
time when he was beginning his medical practice he was much
more impressed by the attitude. of Crookes, Wallace and Flam-
marion, who believed, than by Darwin, Huxley, Tindall [nc] and
Herbert Spencer, who disbelieved.” Here is an indication that
the writer thinks that science is simply a battle of faith and un-
belief, a flux of emotional attractions and repulsions. Otherwise
he would, instead of “ who believed . . . who disbelieved ” have
said " who investigated . . . who did not investigate.” Is there
any other department of human inquiry wherein the opinions of
those who have no first-hand knowledge or next to none are rated
as equal to the opinions of those who have bestowed laborious
study upon the subject-matter? Huxley, in declining the oppor-
tunity offered him by the very respectable London Dialectical
Society to aid in its investigations (See its Report, edition of
1871, pp. 230-231) stated that he had never personally examined
more than one case, and that he had no desire to investigate
further. “ I take no interest in the subject. . . . The only good
that I can see in a demonstration of the truth of ‘ Spiritualism ’
is to furnish an additional argument against suicide.” Yet what
contempt Huxley or Darwin would have felt for the man so under
the spell of emotional repulsion against the mere thought that he
could be biologically related to apes as to exclaim, “ The only good
I can see in the demonstration of such a claim is to furnish an
additional argument for suicide, in order to get beyond sight of
such unpleasant relatives ! ” If they had patience to answer such
a piece of inconsequence would they not have remarked, in sub-
stance, that facts are neither determined nor abolished by one’s
emotions in relation to them? Tyndall never, I believe, wrote
The Survival of Dogmatism.
539
anything so crass as the sentences quoted from Huxley, but his
personal investigations were slight indeed, and in these his acts
and remarks were so at variance with the scientific procedure
which characterized him in his own proper field that even so reso-
lute a critic of spiritualistic phenomena as Podmore is obliged to
condemn them. ( Modern Spiritualism, 1902, Vol. II, pp. 146-
147.) Perhaps more attention should have been paid to the opin-
ion of Faraday than that of Lodge since the latter had only done
much fair-minded investigation, while the former declined an in-
vitation to investigate the phenomena of Home unless that me-
dium would previously subscribe to his (Faraday’s) prejudgment
of a part of the case ( lb . II, 145-146). There is that in psychical
research which rouses many scientists to react as a bull does to a
red doth, plunging forward with eyes shut to the attack. But why
anyone who is interested rather in the facts than in the psychol-
ogy of the protagonists, should rivet his attention on the passing
utterances of men which, by their express admission, are based
upon ignorance and prejudice, is a problem. Suppose that the
American Geographical Society, or any of its eminent agents, had
reluctantly consented to examine Peary’s claim to have discovered
the north pole on conditions similar to those which Faraday de-
manded in advance of Home, “ Will Admiral Peary ‘ admit the
utterly contemptible character ’ of his reputed discovery, in the
way of supplying anything * of the least value to mankind ’ ? ” !
It is doubtful if anyone could be found to applaud this sort of a
protest against Peary’s claim after his return: “ Behind the mere
argument of reason stands more powerfully still the argument of
emotion, his [the scientist’s] whole being abhors this repellent
caricature of the earth’s surface, this sickening picture of two men
isolated in a world of ice and dreadful cold." Yet this is exactly
what Hugo Muensterberg wrote in relation to the facts discussed
by psychical researchers, except that after the word “ caricature ”
must be substituted “ of immortality, this vulgar materialism
which makes the after life,” etc No wonder that Dr. Hyslop said
that a man so under the influence of his emotions ought to join the
Salvation Army ( Journal of A. S. P. R., II, 37-38). And yet, if
one should prefer to consult William James upon these matters,
not because he was impressed by the facts but because he gave
them attention, in preference to Muensterberg, whose terror of
540 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
getting into dose quarters with the facts was such as to deliver
him over to the delicious satire of Professor Schiller ( Proceed-
ings of English S. P. R., July, 1899), we suppose this would be a
proof of '* inherent tendenries.” And it undoubtedly would be —
tendencies in the direction of reason rather than of prejudice and
emotion.
The region of Psychical Research, or “ spiritism,” if you
please, is the only one which men of culture feel qualified to enter
without any special training whatever, without particular ac-
quaintance with its literature, its history or its methods, and
therein make wild and random statements and build theoretical
structures on the basis of their prejudices. It is the one field
wherein they dare to make assertions of fact without first taking
pains to see if the assertions are accurate, and to employ shaky
and limping logic which, employed elsewhere, would be laughable.
One would be disposed to suspect that there is something worth
while in that region from simply noting how doughty knights who
gallop into it on fiery steeds seem to be smitten by enchantment
and to be transformed into Don Quixotes astride of hobbling
Rosinantes.
Muensterberg was a psychologist whose works anyone may
read with profit, even if he was guilty of the faux pas of writing
a treatise on the subconscious mind in three words — “ there is
none” (“Psychotherapy,” p. 125). But when he entered the
field of psychical research he was capable of confessing himself
the victim of emotions, of assuming as facts what he could not
know to be facts and what were not facts, of contradictory state-
ments in the same paragraph and of careful avoidance of real
issues. He declared that in what professed to be communications
from Dr. Hodgson through Mrs. Piper " there is nothing char-
acteristic of the man who purports to speak,” though his knowl-
edge of Hodgson’s characteristics was exceedingly limited; that
“ everything is characteristic of the woman ” though he never saw
Mrs. Piper and never had accepted opportunities to study her
manner of thought or language ; that Hodgson’s “ idioms blended
with her memory of the man,” although he had just declared that
the messages contained nothing characteristic of his style. He
depicts Dr. Hodgson as having been “ absorbed by one passion ”
for many years, “ to understand the conditions of existence after
The Survival of Dogmatism.
541
death — devoting his whole scholarly career to this one group of
problems and discussing them a thousand times with his most inti-
mate friends,” although Dr. Hodgson had no such passion, the
conditions of existence after death were never his quest, and he
never discussed them once with one of his most intimate friends.
Dr. Hyslop. Muensterberg selected for attack the parts of “ com-
munications ” which no Psychical Researcher ever had or ever
would put forward as evidential, and avoided all those that might
be so regarded. ( Journal A. S. P. R., II, 26-30.)
In 1910 appeared “ Studies in Spiritism,” by Amy E. Tanner,
Ph.D. She was an assistant of President G. Stanley Hall, who
wrote an introduction and certain other matter for the volume.
She claimed to report and demolish some of Dr. Hyslop’s ma-
terial, but her victory was gained by the easy process of misquot-
ing and maltreating every one of the twenty-seven comparatively
unimportant incidents which she selected and by making sundry
statements about Dr. Hyslop, etc., which were purely fictitious.
This was demonstrated by republishing the whole of the original
text and her perversions in deadly parallels ( Journal A. S. P. R.,
Vol. V, 1, seq.). And it was this book of his assistant in psychol-
ogy that Professor Hall hoped, in the introduction, would “ mark
the turn of the tide ” 1
In the April number of The Chronicle, 1920, Professor Mar-
garet F. Washburn, of Vassar College, gave her views on “ Psy-
chology and Spiritism,” and it was my painful duty in October to
spread before the readers an exhibit of her numerous errancies.
Now I do not in the least believe that the excellent and learned
lady meant to misquote, misstate and perpetrate feats of logical
contortionism ; I rather incline to think that she also met some-
thing solid within the enchanted territory which made her reel
from her saddle.
I have a most hearty respect for Professor Dickinson S. Mil-
ler, of Columbia University, but could not fail to see that similar,
if not so numerous mishaps, overtook him when in the Church-
man he undertook to pursue the ogre of Psychical Research. Re-
gretfully, an issue or two later, attention was called to the marks
of his falls into the slough of misstatement and bad logic.
Dr. A. A. Brill a few months later explained in a New York
newspaper, as fully as Dr. Farrar has explained, how people come
542 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
to be seized with the delusion that there is demonstration of sur-
vival. With him it is all a matter of " complexes,’’ as with Dr.
Farrar it is a matter of doom from the innate nature of the “ crit-
ter.” But the manner in which he was inhibited from consult-
ing handy books of reference and confined to his imagination for
his facts indicated that he also was laid under a spell when he ap-
proached this fatal subject. For example, he invented a biog-
raphy for Sir Oliver Lodge, asserting that it was old age and the
loss of a son in the late war which won him to delusion, whereas
Sir Oliver reached affirmative conclusions in middle life and long
before his son died. But why stick to facts when exposing
“ spiritism ” ?
Edward Clodd, in 1918, published a book, " If a Man Die,
Shall He Live Again ? ” and it was designed to demolish the same
awful delusion. But the same fatality befell him, he could hardly
lift his pen from the inkwell without a blunder of fact or quota-
tion or logic falling from it. He could not even get names down
correctly. He makes the “ Stratford Rappings ” depend solely
on the testimony of a man thirty years later, although they were
inspected by editors and reporters at the time and reported in
more than a dozen newspapers ( Journal A. S. P. R-, XIV,
615-621).
And so I might go on with instance after instance. Really, it
is advisable that psychologists, psychoanalysts, and scientific gen-
tlemen generally should begin to employ white magic to dispel the
enchantments which paralyze their usual caution and logic when
they take up lances against the subject matter of Psychical Re-
search; it consumes too much of our time benevolently leading
them back to paths of safety and accuracy.
From various indications, one is forced to the conclusion that
not even Dr. Farrar has taken pains to familiarize himself with
either the biographers or the writings of the standard psychical
researchers, whose psychology he nevertheless professes to under-
stand so minutely. (Even the Freudians, whom he puts in a
similar category, make a close personal inspection of their sub-
jects before analyzing them.) I advert to these indications here
and there, and to .one of them now.
If I should write an article criticising several eminent mem-
bers of Dr. Farrar’s profession and should spell their names
The Survival of Dogmatism.
543
Janey, Sydis, Morton Printz, Ossler, he would be warranted in
presuming that I had never been familiarly acquainted with either
these men or their works, else the true form of their names would
have been a part of the records of my brain. And if I had no
other evidence of his un familiarity with the literature of Psych-
ical Research I would find it in his spellings “ Meyers,” “ Ed-
munds,” “ Seibert,” and in the mixing of the initials of F. W. H.
Myers (“ F. H. W. Meyers ”). Even physical science cannot be
very familiar, else he would hardly have written “ Tindall.”
Dr. Farrar entertains the theory that, so far as religion is con-
cerned, personal attitudes “ are not arrived at by processes of
deliberation, logic and judgment, but are first and last questions
of temperament, to change which lies not within the power of the
individual.” This he admits applies at both ends of the scale, so
that religious skepticism as a psychological attitude is no more
rational than is religious faith. Of course this generalization
flies in the face of the testimony of millions that they were irre-
ligious, if not opposed at least indifferent to religion, until well on
in life, when something occurred to cause an inward revolution.
And it flies in the face of the evidence furnished by the visible
lives of millions. Furthermore, multitudes of people went through
the process of “ deliberation, logic and judgment ” before arriv-
ing at settled conclusions on religion, as printed biographies show,
and they did not believe and never would have admitted that this
process was without force or meaning. That is, the dogma that
men are mere automata so far as religion is concerned, is contra-
dicted by both consciousness and external observation. Whence,
then, does Dr. Farrar draw assurance that his dogma is true? If
we point out a man — and there are hosts of such cases — who has
been a materialist, and so far as he or anyone else could see, was
satisfied in his materialism, until the age of fifty or sixty, when
he somehow made a right -about-face, Dr. Farrar says that all the
while the man was a predestined believer in religion. Byron
wrote that
“ When Bishop Berkeley said there was no matter,
And proved it — ’twas no matter what he said."
I should say that when a man, in the face of all the evidence which
544 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the nature of the case admits of puts forward a generalization
which he can support only by barren assertion, it is of interest
only as swelling the list of curious and rickety psychological
speculations. If religious attitudes “ are first and last questions
of temperament ” I would like to know what temperament was
doing all of sixty years before a man of that age finally changed
his views. It reminds me how a phrenologist when I was a youth
declared my organ of “ form ” to be the largest in the whole nest,
which would imply that I was wonderfully keen in remembering
faces. I told the phrenologist that my memory for faces was very
poor, and he said that the faculty was large in me but “ latent ”
But I cannot understand what is meant by a strong faculty which
remains latent as that one has in me to this day. Nor can I under-
stand an innate disposition which works in a contrary direction
for half a lifetime and then suddenly begins to work as it would
be expected to do.
All this is relevant because our writer advances a step and
says that the belief in spirits is also “ an act of faith tempera-
mentally determined.” And I do not see why the doctrine is not
every whit as applicable to all human beliefs and convictions, just
as easy to assert, just as unlikely, just as impossible to prove.
Thus we should be landed in the midst of a universal skepticism
of reason, and be spared the examination of any facts hitherto
supposed to support this or that belief, or any mental effort at all
aside from a languid interest in those fatalities of birth which
gave us fixed beliefs as it gave us fixed complexions. But I do
note that in advancing his “ temperament ” theory so as to include
views on Spiritism, the good Doctor forgets to let it work both
ways as he did in the case of religion. That is, he maintains that
*' belief in spirits is an act of faith temperamentally determined,”
but he does not, as he should, add that disbelief in spirits is also
not reached by any process of reasoning about it, but is tempera-
mentally determined. To have done so would have destroyed any
utility in his article, for what could be the use of arguing against
spiritism in a world of beings hopelessly sewed up in their indi-
vidual bags of reason-proof temperament? Besides, the doctrine
that " belief ” in spirits is never really based on reasoning from
facts, enables one to disregard the facts and arguments of psych-
ical researchers as irrelevant, while the implication that disbelief
The Survival of Dogmatism.
54S
in spirits is, must be, and ever shall be the result of intelligent
processes makes golden coin out of many a criticism of psychical
research which is otherwise counterfeit as to fact and to logic.
What nonsense! There is no subject upon which a sound and
candid mind is not capable of acting according to the “ processes
of deliberation, logic and judgment ’’ ! There are no subjects in
relation to which the reason of all men is paralyzed. To hold that
there are is manifestly to be superstitious on those subjects, for
they would have to be regarded as possessing a resistless fateful
power of inhibiting human reasoning unless it happens to take an
adverse direction. There is no other subject, politics, medicine,
psychology, biology, art, literature, on which human beings can-
not holding differing views without either side laying down a doc-
trine that the logical processes of the other are in absolute abey-
ance. To be sure, this is a convenient dictum, for it avoids the
necessity of attending to the troublesome evidence and argument
of the adversary ; it is sufficient to ascribe to him on purely imag-
inary and theoretical grounds a certain psychological make-up and
then to illustrate it with carefully selected quotations wrenched
from their connections.
Does Dr. Farrar entertain such a skepticism of his own mental
capacities as to believe that if he had a visual or an auditory
hallucination he could not record it at the time, as he could record
in his diary the bodily visit of a friend? That if the apparition
made a prediction he could not as easily watch, report, and prove
the fulfillment of the prediction as its failure? That if after liv-
ing in twenty-six houses without a thing happening that did not
readily answer to normal explanations, he should take up residence
in the twenty-seventh, where (I have in mind an actual case) raps
sounded in various parts of the house, beds shook and a variety
of singular things occurred, he could not investigate the raps and
other facts as coolly as he would investigate cockroaches or
defective drains? That if automatic writing rehearsed a variety
of facts regarding a deceased friend, which the psychic provably
did not know, he could not reach a rational conclusion, at least
tentatively, whether or not the correspondences were too many
and too particular to be ascribed to chance? Unless he made
haste to deny the facts, must he worship them and be drawn into
a whirlpool of unreasoning credulity? He discourses as though
546 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
there were no objective facts on record, but only delirious fan-
tasies. But there happens to be on record a great body of facts,
and a great many witnesses whose testimony in regard to other
types of facts would be regarded with respect. I am not here de-
fending any particular interpretation of the facts, but only main-
taining that since, if any of them took place in the vicinity of Dr.
Farrar, he could keep his head and observe, call in other wit-
nesses to observe, truthfully report and attest by corroborative
testimony, and afterward calmly set down arguments pro and con,
others can do the same. Or will he admit that he could not do it ?
Does he think that “ hereditary and developmental neuropsychical
attitudes, tendencies and inclinations ” create facts external to the
possessor of the assumed characteristics? If not, how in the
name of common sense can the vexed question of “ spiritism ” be
settled solely by inventing psychological theories about the
observers.
I pass over the claim that Sir William Osier, in his “ Science
and Immortality,” teaches the same doctrine of temperamental
determinism, with the remark that to read the little book to the
end is to refute the claim. Osier does indeed classify tempera-
ments, and of course they exist, but he emphatically does not hold
that these are chains which cannot be broken. Otherwise there
would be no sense in his words, “ Some of you will wander
through all phases, to come at last, I trust, to the opinion of
Cicero, who had rather be mistaken with Plato than be right with
those who deny altogether the life after death." The tempera-
ment is not a mold but a current which may have its course
shaped.
But let us see how the psychiatrist proves his contention that
spiritists of the type of Hodgson, Lodge, Hyslop and Barrett
were not moved by facts, but by the irresistible tendency of a
native temperament. His main argument is that such men could
not have been persuaded by “ evidence ” in quotation marks, be-
cause they have been studying this evidence a long while! Sir
William Barrett began his investigations “ upwards of forty
years ago.” “ Hodgson devoted years of his life to the subject,
and made it practically his whole occupation.” Doyle, “ for more
than thirty years has devoted most of his spare time to psychical
research.” Others have “grown old in their quest.” Therefore
The Survival of Dogmatism.
54 7
they did not really, rationally investigate, therefore their “evi-
dence ” was not evidence, therefore they were simply trotting
round and round in the circle of their temperamental prison-cell,
without adding an iota to the stock of facts worthy of attention
If this is logic, it should be mercilessly applied. We need not
pay attention to Darwin’s evidence, it will suffice to put the word
in derisive quotation marks, for Darwin spent nearly twenty years
of his life on the subject of Natural Selection and made it prac-
tically his whole occupation prior to the publication of his expo-
sition. Almost from boyhood Peary was engrossed with desire
(and desire is the great provocative of imaginary wish-fulfill-
ment) to reach the North Pole; it was his study and passion for
many years (probably “ largely a matter of endocrine glands,”
etc.), he tried again and again (“this is the factor of habit ”),
and as “ there is another factor in the psychological metamor-
phosis of conviction, the striving, if one may so express it, of
every thought process to arrive at a definite goal,” he at length
believed he had found his ! Why consume valuable time examin-
ing and accepting or else controverting his “ evidence ” when
psychology, without leaving its cloister, can so easily explain the
delusion ? Semmelweiss was another of that infatuated set who
“ have practically devoted their lives ” to a particular subject, his
subject being the investigation and promulgation of the art of
asepsis. He was one of those who “ dedicated themselves to [an]
inquiry . . ., which, assuming for them more and more impor-
tance as the years passed, eventually became a veritable obsession.”
Perhaps because they divined his “ natural constitutional bent ”
the great majority of his medical contemporaries refused to ex-
amine his " evidence ” though they contemptuously repudiated it,
and he at length contributed to their psychological theory by going
mad over the matter. Oddly they are all following in his foot-
steps now. Alas ! if it should be discovered that Dr. Farrar him-
self long ago devoted himself to the subject of Psychiatry, and
has spent many years in study and investigation pre-eminently
in this field, for we should then be assured that whatever he con-
siders to be “ evidence ” within that field is probably only the
buzzing of a neuropsychic centre in his brain, smd should be com-
pelled to request him to discuss some topic which neither of us
548 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had given any particular attention to, in order that our reason
might be released from remorseless bias.
Let us see how the account stands between the psychical re-
searcher and the psychiatrist, each of whom thinks he has found
something worth while in his respective field. We will choose
usual and typical cases :
Psychical Researcher.
1. Pursues general courses of
study in psychology or phys-
ical science with view to a
profession.
2. Continues his profession for
years, uninterested in and
skeptical to psychical research.
3. His attention is attracted by
some fact hard to explain on
“ normal ” grounds.
4. Although his colleagues, who
can give no explanation, make
light of it —
5. And he knows he may lose
caste and injure his profes-
sional and financial prospects
if he does not leave such mat-
ters alone.
6. He pursues independent in-
vestigations, and reads the
records of other investigators.
7. He spends much of his spare
time continuing his investiga-
tions, although they are re-
garded askance and are not
lucrative.
Psychiatrist.
1. Pursues medical studies with
view to become a physician.
2. Interested in psychiatry — con-
fides in it on authority — early
in his medical studies.
3. His attention is still more at-
tracted by psychiatry as prom-
ising a career.
4. Especially as his instructors
speak well of it —
5. And there is good money in it.
6. He listens to cut-and-dried lec-
tures, faithfully takes notes,
and believes all he hears.
7. At length he spends all his
time studying and practising
psychiatry as a gainful and
well-reputed profession.
>0‘3K
The Survival of Dogmatism.
549
Psychical Researcher.
8. He publishes a complete rec-
ord of a series of experiments
containing incidents which he
regards as weak or unevi-
dential, also incidents care-
fully guarded and corrobo-
rated, which he regards as
evidential, discusses the whole
matter thoroughly, and asks
that another than a super-
normal explanation of the in-
cidents on which he places
emphasis be brought forward.
Psychiatrist.
8. Without any knowledge what-
ever of the psychical re-
searcher except that the latter
has studied his subject a long
time, he invents on purely
theoretical grounds a neuro-
psychic determinism for him,
and disposes of both the evi-
dence and the argument by the
innuendo of quotation marks,
or else picks out the incidents
for annihilation which had ex-
pressly been designated as un-
evidential, and ignores those
to which attention had spe-
cifically been called.
The above comparison is intended and believed to be perfectly
fair. And I boldly affirm that I know of no doctor, psychologist,
physicist, or other man of scientific pretensions in America who,
since the day when Hodgson landed on these shores more than
thirty years ago, has attempted or purported to confute the results
of such psychical researchers as those of Hodgson himself and
Hyslop, and whose success has surpassed what is described in the
eighth section above. If there is a single, solitary instance where
the parts of an automatic record upon which a scientific psychical
researcher places emphasis, have been fairly met and an attempt
made, by the kind of logic employed in other fields, to deprive
them of supernormal significance, let it be pointed out.
The phrase, “ the kind of logic employed in other fields ” is
no mere innuendo. Verily to those who feel superior to psychical
research it is a sort of poor relation, for whom any old logic is
good enough. Witness the proof given by Dr. Farrar that
Hyslop’s reference to the conversion of Doyle as a recent event,
“ is obviously erroneous.” It is erroneous, he informs us, because
Doyle himself testifies that for more than thirty years he has de-
voted most of his spare time to psychical research, states “ It is
k
550 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
only within the last year or two that I have finally declared myself
to be satisfied with the evidence,” and also affirms, “ The subject
of psychical research is one upon which I have thought more and
about which I have been, slower to form an opinion, than upon
any subject whatever." If Doyle had studied any other subject
than psychical research for thirty years, his testimony that he was
exceedingly slow to come to any conclusion and had not done so
until a year or so ago (before the date of his writing the state-
ment) would confirm Hyslop’s reference to his recent conversion.
But, seeing that the subject was psychical research. Dr. Farrar
implies, the very fact that Doyle studied at all indicates that he
was in a neuropsychical attitude of acceptance from the first, and
proves that he was really “ converted ” thirty years before he had
the least idea of the fact. I am not claiming that anyone else
should be converted by Doyle’s conversion. I am not intimating
that he is a highly critical investigator, for I do not so regard him.
But I am claiming that he is a judge of his own consciousness,
and that when he says that he was not converted until recently no
one has any right to dispute him unless he can give a better reason
than that Doyle began his studies years ago. By the same test
Frank Podmore was converted to spiritism thirty years before his
death, though his most recent book still held out against it. This
book does indeed show that the accumulated evidence was causing
him some misgivings, and if he had lived five years longer and
become convinced, all his protestations that it was reasoning from
facts which had altered his views would not have saved him from
the determined doctrinaire, who would have pointed out to a won-
dering world the fact of his early interest in the subject as a proof
that he was “converted” thirty-four years before he himself
suspected it.
There is, indeed, such a thing as fighting off increasing sus-
picions that an unwelcome thing is true. Prof. George M. Beard
long ago said ( North American Review, July, 1879) that for
"logical [ric], well-trained, truth-loving minds, the only security
against spiritism is in hiding or running away.” He knew, for
that was the course he adopted. And it is to be suspected —
though f would not imitate my friend and set up my shrewd sur-
mise as a psychological law — that some of these truth-loving [ !]
minds instinctively hide the terrifying and threatening facts from
The Survival of Dogmatism.
551
their vision by throwing out a smoke screen of " words without
wisdom.” It is highly probable that the reason why Saul of
Tarsus took it upon himself to persecute the Christians, going out
of his way to get authority for the purpose, was because, whether
or not for good reason, he was impressed by the words of Stephen
whose execution he witnessed. In that case his persecuting zeal
was a defensive mechanism. He was afraid of becoming a rene-
gade to his religion and of forfeiture of all the advantages of his
then position. And when I see a man like my friend Professor
Jastrow, who, unsummoned by any functions of his office, pro-
fessing a distaste for the entire subject, and certainly revealing
no expert special knowledge of it, yet is impelled, with a notable
appearance of emotional perturbation, to issue a flood of articles
against spiritism, psychical research and Sir Oliver Lodge, I am
at a loss to account for the interesting psychological phenomenon
short of assuming that a few perplexing dart-pointed facts have
found their way through the joints of his armor, and that the old
Saul of Tarsus defensive reaction has set in again. Methinks that
he too may find it “ hard to kick against the pricks.”
In conclusion, let us glance at one of these “ neuropsychic ”
specimens whose “ belief in spirits ” is an act of faith, tempera-
mentally determined,” and “ not arrived at by processes of de-
liberation, logic and judgment,” — I mean the typical accredited
psychical researcher, Richard Hodgson, Master of Arts and
Doctor of Laws of the University of Melbourne, student at the
Universities of Jena and of Oxford, student of law, Lecturer on
the Philosophy of Herbert Spencer at Oxford. This man, of
admirably balanced faculties, gave attention to psychical research
for a quarter of a century. No man lived who knew more about
the possibilities of fraud, mal-observation, self-deception and de-
fective inference. He investigated Madame Blavatsky and in a
memorable report blasted her occult pretensions. With S. J.
Davey he conducted experiments which resulted in an invaluable
study of mal-observation and lapses of memory. He was an in-
veterate exposer of frauds and delusions. And when William
James introduced him to Mrs. Piper he expected to riddle the
claims that any of her deliverances were supernormal. It was five
years before he reported in the Proceedings, coming to no further
conclusion than that telepathy seemed to be indicated. Not until
552 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
190 7, ten years after the beginning of his study of Mrs. Piper, did
he publish a second and monumental report in the Proceedings,
announcing his conviction, founded upon a mass of facts and
reasonings, that discarnate agency was involved. Great was the
astonishment of those who knew him as a keen observer, a cool
thinker, a remorseless critic. If such a man is to be disposed of
by the ascription to him of a psychological makeup evolved from
imagination in defiance of all the apparent facts, what thinker is
safe ? And what are the limits of such a method of demolition ?
It is time that some American scholar turned from pleasing
fancies about the investigators in psychical research, and set his
powerful mind at work upon the investigators' facts, in order to
show that these are explainable on normal grounds.
>0*1
Notes from Periodicals.
553
NOTES FROM PERIODICALS.
By George H. Johnson.
Quarterly Review of the British College of Psychic Science.
Pp. 112. London, 59 Holland Park, W. 11. This is No. 1, Vol.
1, of a new serial which gives promise of much interest. The
new institution which it represents deserves more than a passing
notice. With its organization and equipment it should make some
valuable contributions to psychic research if conducted in ac-
cordance with scientific and critical methods. The promoters of
the college are Mr. J. Hewat McKenzie, author of “ Spiritual In-
tercourse, Its Theory and Practice," etc., and Mrs. McKenzie,
who are wholly responsible for the organization and maintenance
of the work. The institution was opened April 12, 1920, in Mr.
McKenzie’s own residence in West London.
There are experiment rooms and a lecture room, with classes
on such subjects as “ Present Day Modes of Spiritual Develop-
ment,” “ Occult Training," “ Psychology in Its Relation to
Psychic Science,” and even what is called “ Scientific Handread-
ing.” “ Direct Voice and Trumpet ” and " Psychic Photog-
raphy ” (the Crewe Circle) are said to be demonstrated.
It is the announced intention of the management to bring to
the institution from time to time the most famous psychics of the
world. Mr. McKenzie has made two trips to the United States
to engage American mediums who can demonstrate physical
phenomena.
The principal article in this number of the Quarterly is Mr.
McKenzie’s report on the mediumship of Miss Ada Besinnet. It
appears that Miss Besinnet, of Toledo, Ohio, went to London
under a contract with the institution, and the results here reported
make a valuable supplement to the voluminous report on Miss
Burton (pseudonym), which was written by Dr. Hyslop and
published April, 1911, as Part 1, Vol. V, of the Proceedings of
the A. S. P. R. This report by Mr. McKenzie is so important
that it will be separately reviewed.
Other articles in this number of the Quarterly are “ The Value
554 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
and Bearing of Psychical Research,” by Stanley de Brath;
“ Psycho-Photography,” by Major R. E. E. Spencer, and “ Gen-
eral Laws Underlying Trance Communications,” by Rev. C.
Drayton Thomas. Of these the most remarkable is the illustrated
article on “ Psycho- Photography.” The author claims that “ the
operators on the other side ” have shown him the actual process
they use in making so-called spirit photographs. This process he
understands to be
First. The production of a psychically built-up object or
picture.
Second. The manufacture of a psychic negative of that
object.
Third. The passing of a radiant, possibly obtained from the
person of the sensitive, through the psychic negative after the
latter has been placed upon the surface of the sensitive films.
When we get precise definitions of the phrases used perhaps
we shall know more about it. The same article contains a descrip-
tion of the phenomenon of “ the aperature ” on photographic
plates, which, it is stated, frequently contain a psychic face — not-
ably that 'of “ John Hewlitt,” who explains himself by raps and
automatically-written messages to be the photographer who is
making the demonstration.
The article by Mr. Thomas, who conducted the famous
“ Times ” and “ Book ” tests during the two years he was study-
ing the mediumship of Mrs. Osborne Leonard, is deserving of
particular attention because of the experiences of the author. Be-
ginning with an expression of his confidence in the reality of spirit
communication, and the continuing delight and wonder of it, he
proceeds to say that what is now but a series of tracks into the
unknown, made by pioneers, will become a broad high road in
which all may walk. Trance communication, writes Mr. Dray-
ton, is perhaps the most complicated, although the most efficient,
method now known of communicating with discamate spirits;
but the very complications which make for efficiency when the
essential conditions are present, renders it liable to checks and
imperfections when one or more such conditions are lacking.
The opinion is then expressed that the communicator uses a
telepathic method in making the “control” understand what he
desires to transmit. The condition of the sensitive is one of
Notes from Periodicals.
555
heightened receptivity, so that telepathy from the “ control ” is
again probable. To these double processes of reception and trans-
mission we may look for most of those errors and limitations
which bewilder the inexperienced sitter. Both communicator and
“ control ” have in some degree re-entered earthly conditions and
thereby taken on limitations incident to that state. While long
messages have been received which have every appearance of
having been transmitted from dictation a few words at a time it is
generally a transmission of thoughts rather than of words, and it
may be difficult or impossible for the communicator to correct a
word wrongly chosen by the sensitive. It would be misleading
also to picture the “ control ” as being in full possession of the
sensitive’s brain ; what cannot be expressed on one occasion may
be easily given on another. Sometimes the “ control ” is dis-
pensed with, and one may have the sacred experience of direct
communion with friends on the other side.
The editor of the Transactions is Mr. F. Bligh Bond, the well-
known author of “ The Gate of Remembrance," and the “ Hill
of Vision."
The Occult Review for September contains an article by G.
R. S. Mead on “ The Magic of the Subconscious," which is really
a review of the second edition of Dr. Louis Staudenmaier’s
“ Magic as Experimental Natural Science.” The book was the
product of long introspection and analysis applied to psychic re-
search. The study was begun as the result of the author's own
experience in automatic writing supplemented with auditory and
optical hallucinations. To explain these phenomena he presents
the theory of the reversibility of the subjective and the objective
through the reversal of the normal psychological function of sen-
sible receptivity. Moreover, he believes that every nervous center
can liberate psychical energy peculiar to itself, and thereby
strengthen such hallucinations. Dr. Staudenmaier is a teacher of
chemistry, and he fails to show how his theory is related to prac-
tical psychiatry, although he claims the demonstration of his
theory from his own experience in auto-anaesthesia and hyper-
aesthesia. He first deifies and then demonizes the subconscious.
556 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
MEDIUMISTIC EXPERIMENTS WITH MRS.
BORDEN.
By Mrs. “ Marian W. Spencer.” [1]
1. Editorial Preface. The writer of this report, Mrs. " Marian W.
Spencer,” is well known to me. Her intelligence is of a high order, she is
slow in coming to convictions on debatable matters, and is very averse to being
deceived either by others or by herself. Her critical capacities are such that
tasks requiring analytical skill and discriminating judgment have lately been
assigned her under the supervision of the investigating department of the
Society, not only or chiefly on their own account but also in the hope that she
may become a valuable coadjutor in psychical research.
Careful inquiry makes it seem to me practically unthinkable that Mrs.
Borden [pseudonym] made any endeavor to learn facts about Mrs. Spencer’s
past life or about her deceased husband, or that any more than an insignificant
part of what came through could so have been obtained by her. In fact, the
things which were said by Mrs. Borden do not at all bear the stamp of the sort
of facts which are learned by “ detective " work.
The first sittings produced nothing which was thought worth recording,
and Mrs. Spencer was inclined to regard all which the medium said " as
either conscious deceit or as emanations from her subconsciousness.” But
from the point where strangely characteristic and significant facts began to
be stated, contemporaneous shorthand notes were taken embodying statements
which could be verified or disputed but not including all the cloudy imagery
which might mean anything or nothing.
The main question is how much the medium learned from Mrs. Spencer’s
lips during the period before the shorthand notes began and the necessity of
caution in order to protect what was actually beginning to come was apparent
From my knowledge of the lady and her mental characteristics, I rely upon
her own statement that she was all along careful not to say things which
would spoil evidence, that she made mental note of the little which she did
tell, that “with a fair amount of accuracy” she can judge how much Mrs.
Borden knows of the facts normally and what she decidedly was never told.
That very phrase “with a fair amount of accuracy" is a mark of caution
and conscientiousness. Had she said that she could remember every one of
the details which she told, although certain that these were few, I for one
would not believe that she, or I or anyone else, could be so infallible of mem-
ory. The caution and moderation of these statements give confidence that the
list of imparted facts which she gives is somewhere near a full one
There are many persons, and perhaps they constitute a majority, whose
assurance that they had not inadvertently revealed many facts would be of no
Mediumistic Experiments unth Mrs. Borden. 557
EARLY EXPERIENCES WITH MRS. BORDEN.
In May or June of 1921 a friend of mine introduced me to Mrs.
Borden, stating that she was a psychic and might help me in my
attempts to get communication with my husband who was taken
away in March of that year.
Having read a number of standard books on the subject of spirit-
ism, but having had no actual experience with mediums, I was in a
state of acute skepticism, and inclined to discount everything which
did not present startling evidence. Therefore, I kept no record of
assurance to the experienced investigator, no matter how honest they might
be in intention. But these persons would hardly employ, spontaneously, such
cautious phrases as “ a fair amount of accuracy.” They would not be likely,
spontaneously, to search their memories in order to make out a list of facts
which had been told, including even one which was first stated by the medium
before she was told anything about it, in order that the reference may not
seem to the reader to have further weight in the later sittings which are
reported.
But, fortunately, the most significant and striking series of facts which
came out in the sittings are protected against any surmises based on the in-
firmities of memory. These are the pet names which were applied to Mr.
Spencer in his lifetime. They are his wife’s playful names for him, uttered
only in privacy or written by him in letters which she only read. They were
never told by her to any one, much less to the medium. Had one of them
been told previously to its being given by the medium that fact could not
have been forgotten. For she was wondering if any of his pet names for
her — not hers for him — would come and, being fully awake to the condi-
tions of evidence, would never have uttered one of either set But there is
another element of Mrs. Spencer's nature which protects those names both
against the medium and against other persons from whom, it might be imag-
ined, the medium could have gotten them. And that is that Mrs. Spencer was
exceedingly, almost morbidly, sensitive in regard to them. She declares that
she never would have told them to anyone, before or after her husband’s
death. Before, they would have seemed too childish to impart, she would
have feared that another person would think derisively of them. After, the
same reason would have prevented their being imparted to anyone, and also
it pained her so to think of them that she repressed them in her very thoughts,
much less could name them. It was with curious hesitation and reluctance
that she told me of the first one after it had come through and she wanted to
get my opinion of the weight of the significance, and even then she disguised
the form of it — for what reason has never been apparent to me. It was some
time before she could bring herself to state all which had come through em-
bodying the pet names, and a longer period before she could bring herself to
consent, in the interests of psychical science, and under the protection of a
558 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
what was done, being disposed to look upon everything Mrs. Borden
said as either conscious deceit or as emanations from her subcon-
sciousness. The first thing that attracted my attention was her very
good description of the apartment where my husband and I had lived
previous to her acquaintance with me. I did not believe she had
looked it up because I knew her to be a very busy housewife, taking
care of the home for her husband and her mother. She would have
no object in trying to deceive me so far as money was concerned, as
I only gave her $1 for an evening1 s work, and she very often refused
to accept even this.
Mrs. Borden had some years ago worked with a professional
psychic, doing automatic writing. Since her marriage 15 years ago,
however, she has not used her gift in public, as her husband is very
much opposed to her using it at all. At the time I met her she was
just seeing a few people occasionally, and liked coming to my friend
and to me as an act of mercy more than anything else. She is very
sweet-nantured, kind and, I believe, thoroughly good. She has, in
my estimation, an excellent mind capable of a much greater culture
than it has ever had a chance to receive. She is fond of reading
Shakespeare, the Bible, books of travel, and responds instantly to
everything high and good in literature, but I cannot find that she has
read many — if any — psychic books. Her knowledge of this subject
is apparently very limited, and I have reason to believe she has been
pseudonym which she adopts only on that account, to the whole list being
printed. And yet it is quite certain that instead of derision, sympathetic in-
terest will be roused by this touch of nature that makes the whole world kin,
by these quaint and humorous names which were employed between an
ideally-mated husband and wife.
It is the emergence of most of the odd pet names privately employed by
Mrs. Spencer for her husband during the last years of his life which is the
unique feature of this series of experiments. An analysis of the evidence
regarding these names and also a discussion of the theory of telepathy to
account for it will be found at the close of the second part of this paper.
Of course the fact that these peculiar names were certainly protected yet
somehow came through makes the theory that any large part of the factual
content of Mrs. Borden's messages was obtained by leakage of any kind forced
and illogical. For many other true and significant things were stated, which
seem within the reach of any power which could get at the names, and it
would be unreasonable to suppose that any means by which the names were
obtained should, stop exactly at their border.
The footnotes which follow are by the editor except where otherwise stated.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
559
easily deceived by fraudulent mediums, and could be easily so de-
ceived again. In all my acquaintance with her extending now over
a year, I have never found her in a falsehood nor in an attempt to
deceive. In fact, I regard her as a very fine character indeed.
The next thing she told me that attracted my notice was that she
could see my husband bending over a shallow dish with water in it,
and asked me what I had kept in such a dish. I replied immediately
that we had had narcissus or Chinese lilies in such a dish and that
my husband had especially liked the flowers, and most frequently
bent over the dish in just the way she described in order to see how
they were growing. She then said that what she had seen looked like
brown nuts, which is what the bulbs would look like, although, of
course, she did not say this until after I had told her what they were.
I believe, however, that she actually did see these bulbs in the dish,
because it seems to me that if she just said she saw what my infor-
mation suggested, she would more naturally have described the plants
in flower.
A number of other things came at this stage which were suf-
ficiently evidential to make me think much better of her psychic
powers. She is both clairaudient and clairvoyant, but does not do
automatic writing any more. All along, I have been careful not to
tell her anything that might spoil evidence, and when I have told her
anything about my husband or our life together, have made a mental
note of it at the time, so that I feel myself in a position to judge
with a fair amount of accuracy how much she knows of us normally,
and what things I have decidedly not told her. For instance, I told
her quite early in our acquaintance, while I thought little of her gift
and despaired of its ever coming through, that my husband had
called me “ Mother.” Therefore, wherever this has occurred
throughout the reports, it may be discounted as being already known
to the psychic. On the other hand, I know that I have never told
Mrs. Borden any of the pet-names I used to call my husband. For
one reason, they are too intimate and dear to me, and for another,
my life is so changed that many of them I had actually forgotten
until I heard them on her lips, and sometimes even then it has taken
me some time to remember that they were part and parcel of my
past life. That they were, however, old letters which I retain thor-
oughly attest.
The sittings have not been very regular. Sometimes I would see
560 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
her every week for several weeks, then there would be a long break
due to her other occupations. Her home duties are the most impor-
tant things in her life, the psychic work being only a side issue, and
done more as a favor than anything else.
In the autumn of 1921 I felt her work to be so valuable that
records of it should be kept, and have accordingly kept them. [2]
It will be noted that a large amount of what she gives me is of an in-
determinate nature, — that is, it is impossible to say whether it is true
or false. For instance, if she sees my husband carrying a red rose,
or looking out of a window, or if she sees a field of daisies, and it
suggests nothing of importance to me, I still cannot say that she does
not see them. I note very often that when a particularly good piece
of evidential matter comes through, it is surrounded by just such
indeterminate material, which I have come to feel is my husband's
method of giving me something good “ wrapped up in brown paper,”
(which was an expression of his for just such a process) [3]
thus enabling me to get his message secretly even from the psychic,
who, being confused by the mass of material, could not decide which
part of it, if any, was of value.
It may be a good plan to give a list of things which occur in the
sittings that I know were known to the psychic.
1 — She knew my husband called me “ Mother.”
2 — She knew he had blue eyes.
3 — She knew he was an Englishman.
A — She knew he smoked Piedmont cigarettes, but only after gaining
the knowledge herself through psychometrizing a book of his
which had no odor of cigarettes nor anything else from which
she could have deduced the brand he smoked.
5 — She knew he studied public speaking under Mr. Walter Daniels,
[pseudonym] and that he was very enthusiastic about it.
6 — Before she got what appeared to be a communication from Miss
Josephine Fielding [pseudonym] she knew that I had a friend
who had died of pneumonia, and perhaps her last name.
7 — She knew that Mr. Spencer’s parents were dead.
2. It should be understood, therefore, that the records which follow are
based upon contemporaneous notes unless something to the contrary is said.
3, In his lifetime. That is, he took pleasure while in a company in saying
things which, imbedded in conversational discourse, would be understood by
one person but not by others present
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 561
TESTS IN PSYCHOMETRY WITH MRS. BORDEN.
October 15, 1921.
1. The psychic held a diploma received by my husband from a
class in public speaking to which he belonged. It was rolled and
might have been any ordinary roll of paper, or manuscript.
Impressions Received.
This puts me in touch with some honor to be conferred on some-
one, because I see a medal. This seems to be connected with your
husband, and it brings me a feeling of success, and something he
should go on with.
I see a blonde woman sitting at a desk surrounded with papers.
She seems to be an editor, and in charge of big work, etc.
Comments.
First part very good, as receiving the diploma was in some sort
an honor. There is a drawing of a medal on the paper. My hus-
band was becoming very successful as a speaker, and would have
certainly gone on with it had he remained on earth.
I could not at the time get any connection with the second im-
pression, but later it occurred to me that it might just possibly be
Miss Tubby, to whom I have since become very much indebted for
help in getting communication with my husband. [4]
2. A pocket book of my own containing a number of articles. A
lot of impressions were received, but none of them seemed to fit the
case. I think it was a confusing article as there were too many
diverse associations connected with it.
3. A snapshot of my husband dressed in a palm beach suit,
laughing and talking with a group of office associates. Picture
placed between two stiff cards of other dimensions than the photo.
Impressions.
The psychic had a feeling of great love and tenderness, then of
sadness. Then she said she saw something white. “ Is there a film
in here, because I see your husband holding a film up to the light? ”
(“ Not exactly.") “ Well it seems to be a photograph of your hus-
4. Unevidential. Miss Tubby is neither a blonde nor an editor.
562 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
band, and he is dressed in a light suit, looks white. And I get the
impression of when he was working in an office, and there is some-
one else in the picture. I see two men and a girl, and your husband
is talking and laughing with them. It is as if it was Saturday after-
noon or evening when they were leaving the office, and all laughing
and jesting.”
Comments.
Excellent. The group contained two other men and two girls.
It was taken on the station platform as they were all coming home
together from the office. There is a possibility that Mrs. Borden had
seen the picture some months ago among a number of others, but
there was nothing to indicate that there was a photograph between
the cards, or that, if there were, it would be this particular one. [5]
4. A letter from a city in Texas, from a person still living, and
containing at the time nothing of importance. Mrs. Borden thought
there was a photograph in it, but got no other accurate impression.
As a matter of fact, there had been a photograph of my husband in
it when it was received, but it was not there at the time.
CLAIRVOYANT IMPRESSIONS.
A wardrobe trunk belonging to my husband, and much valued by
him, stands in my room. It contains a number of things belonging
to him which I have not been able to part with. Mrs. Borden said
the face of the trunk seemed to her like a big slate, and she could see
words written on it [6] There were a number of names, of no es-
pecial significance. Below are some of the things she saw :
5. The photograph, 2',i x 4J4 in., lies before me with the two postal cards
which enclosed it, their blank side out. Mr. Spencer appears in the picture
clothed entirely in white, while both the other men are dressed in dark suits.
As Mrs. Spencer states, while there are two men besides the husband in agree-
ment with the medium's description, there are two girls, not one only. Mr.
Spencer, as well as three of the others, is laughing or broadly smiling, and he
alone is looking at the others, as though he might be speaking to them.
6. This was a phenomenon of the nature, apparently, of scrying or crystal
gazing. Scryers sometimes see writing in the glass ball, and I have one sub-
ject who habitually sees sentence after sentence. Any polished surface can
be used for the purpose of imagery by some, and Mrs. Borden seems to have
seen sentences on the background of the trunk.
Mediumislic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
563
The name “ Spellman,” [no meaning for me].
“ Spill my ink,” [indeterminate].
[7] “ Wellman," [d name connected with my own early child-
hood].
*' Katherine,” [the name of my landlady who has a beloved sister
in the spirit world, but who does not like the idea of communication],
*' Tubby will advise.” If, as may be possible, this refers to Miss
Tubby, Secretary of the Society for Psychical Research, it is very
apt, for Miss Tubby has since advised me to very good purpose in-
deed. Psychic knows Miss Tubby is Secretary of the A. S. P. R.,
and that I am a member of it.
Mrs. Borden : “ You will laugh at this — I don’t see any meaning
in it I see the words: * Laziness had no part in my life.* ” (This is
very striking, for due to having far less strength than his appearance
would indicate, and to continual suffering with his feet, my husband
was often subject to the accusation of laziness. He was not at all
lazy, however; in fact, his energy was very great, and he was ex-
tremely active at such times as his suffering was temporarily relieved.
The sentence above appears to be a vindication of himself in this
respect. Mrs. Borden knew nothing of this phase of his life, as I
had never spoken to her of it, and she never knew him personally.)
Mrs. Borden : “ I see two big eyes — would Buster Brown mean
anything to you?” (No.) “ I see your husband sitting at a desk
with a pencil in his hand. He seems to be in an office, drawing.
Now, you will laugh at this, it is ridiculous. He draws a Kewpffe
doll — he makes a big circle for the head, and a longer one for the
body, very quickly, and it looks just like one of these Kewpie dolls.”
This was extremely good. I have always been very fond of Kew-
pies. Everything that was particularly delightful or cunning, we
always characterized as a “ regular Kewpie.” When idly sketching,
how many, many times has my husband, to please and amuse me,
drawn just such an absurd, delightful figure of a Kewpie. Mrs.
7. The name Wellman, though connected with the sitter's childhood, has
no particular and important connection. “ Spellman,” “ Spill my ink,” “ Well-
man,” might be attempts for something with an auditory resemblance which
did not shape itself nearly enough to be recognizable. On the other hand they
might be only products of that rhyming tendency sometimes active in sub-
conscious and dreamy states.
564 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Borden did not know anything of this, as it was part of the sweet
intimate funning that you do not speak of to others for fear of seem-
ing ridiculous. I think there was difficulty -in getting this through,
and that the big eyes Mrs. Borden took to be those of Buster Brown
were simply an attempt to draw the Kewpie. I admitted to the
psychic that this was a good piece of evidence, but did not tell her
how good. [Note for Dr. Prince: See private list of names.] [8]
Other words and phrases and sketches appeared to Mrs. Borden
on the trunk which, owing to the fact that I could not find their
meaning, I made no note of, and have allowed to escape my mind.
The things I do not record are usually of such a nature as a field
of daisies, a bunch of roses, some Japanese figures, a large flag
waving, etc., etc., which she doubtless does see, but which have no
known especial bearing on anything in my life, as they stand, and
seem to be of little value. Of course I do not know what may have
been intended by them. It may be that they were approaches to
something which would have been intelligible had they reached their
goal. Then she said : “ I see the drawing of a fox, would that mean
anything to you?” [Volumes. Another part of our precious fool-
ishness, and one of my husband’s nicknames in which he took special
amusement, as he had reddish hair and he thought it appropriate.
This name has so many associations that they would almost fill a
copy of the Journal by themselves. ]
I thought this a very successful evening, and during it was myself
almost overtaken by a condition of trance. This often takes place
when the influences seem particularly strong, but I do not entirely
lose consciousness, and by a great effort can arouse myself at any
moment. This does not imply that I am a psychic.
The psychic said absolutely nothing about the extreme illness of
a friend I loved dearly, Miss Fielding, whom I had just visited and
with whom my mind was greatly preoccupied. Her life was hanging
in the balance, and I fully expected Mrs. Borden to give me some
hint of what the outcome might be, but she did not touch upon the
8. This is left as Mrs. Spencer wrote it, before she permitted the full
facts to come out, and witnesses to the extreme unlikelihood (in addition to
her direct statement) that she would have previously told the medium, what
was the case, that not only did Mr. Spencer draw Kewpies, but that they
usually stood for him, for Kewpie was one of his droll pet names. He drew
them with big eyes.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
565
case even remotely during the whole sitting. She had no normal
knowledge of the friend nor of her illness.
MRS. BORDEN’S VISIT OF DECEMBER 30, 1921.
(Transcribed January 6th, 1922, from contemporaneous short-
hand notes.)
We usually burn incense at the sittings, and on lighting it Mrs.
B. said : " Did your husband speak with a kind of an English ac-
cent ? — because I can hear him say : ‘ Thank you veiny much.’ ”
This was said almost exactly as if he had said it, and it was a way
of saying “ very ” for which I had often laughingly mocked him
until the phrase “ Thank you verry much ” had become a catch-word
between us.
She heard him say “ That smells good,” which does not sound
like him.
Mrs. B. had the impression of a water lily.
Mrs. B. described a picture in approximately these words : “ Your
husband shows me a picture of some trees, and some low bushes, and
then I don’t know what is beyond, is it water? because it couldn’t
just go off into nothing.” This, in connection with the water lily is
good. We were together on a brief vacation at Lakeview, N. C. I
painted a little scene of pine trees on a hillside, there were some low
bushes in the foreground. A house was dimly visible at the top of
the hill, and then it “ went off into nothing ” — that is, only a dim
line of distant trees was visible beyond the hill and then a pale sky.
My husband stood at my elbow while I was painting, holding a glass
of water for my use. We had great fun over it and were tremen-
dously happy. It was one of the high lights in our life, neveT for-
gotten, and the picture was treasured far above more valuable things.
James particularly loved it. In the midst of the painting, we were
invited to go motoring, and I most inartistically dropped the work
and we went. On the trip we paused to enjoy a most beautiful pond
of water lilies in full bloom. The only one we ever saw together in
our lives, save the pond in Bronx Park with many rare varieties,
which we saw years afterwards. The connection seems to be delib-
erate. The whole trip was delightful, and one which he would re-
mind me of often were he still with me.
[At this point, for the comparatively laconic and colorless ac-
566 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
count of the most remarkable incident of the sitting which Mrs.
Spencer had prepared for publication, I have with difficulty prevailed
upon her to allow me to substitute a portion of a private letter which
she wrote me. The two accounts are in perfect accord, but the one
which follows shows the origin of the very unusual pet-name, and
the important place which it came to occupy in the humor of the
couple. Needless to say, I felt no inclination to " ridicule ” this or
any other of the merry incidents of the household, nor will any
sensible reader. Editor .]
To tell the next incident properly will involve some little family
history, I fear, and I shall have to expose myself probably to the
chance of some ridicule, owing to the use of queer names to denote
affection. In this respect I throw myself upon your mercy — “ who-
soever loveth knoweth the cry of this voice."
To begin with, my small niece years ago had a pet cat that she
became so fond of that she characterized everything very nice as a
“ cat." Then, as her adoration for this animal increased, the plain
word “ cat ” did not satisfy her, so she called it a “ Minnie-cat,” tho
its name was not Minnie, as an added endearment, and “ Minnie-cat "
came to be the very highest and best name she could call anyone or
anything. 1 give you this origin to show how unusual the word is,
and how peculiar to my own family it appears to be. The grown-ups
soon caught hold of the expression, and after I met and married my
husband, it took his fancy also, and we both used it freely in fun. In
the course of time, through some joke, I began calling him “ cat."
and when especially pleased with him (and after his manly resistance
was thoroughly broken down) he submitted to being called “ Minnie-
cat.” Of the dozen or more ridiculous names bestowed upon him,
this one clung the most closely, and was never discarded, though
others came and went. So identified with it did he become that he
used to draw weekly cartoons of the happenings in our household,
depicting himself always as a cat. For instance, if he made a trip to
Washington, the weekly cartoon would show a caricature of a cat
sitting in a Pullman car reading a newspaper, and under it would be
some such title as “ The cat goes to Washington,” etc., etc. This
custom was kept up for years, and created the greatest fun and
laughter, our only regret being that it was all so silly we had to keep
it strictly to ourselves, and not share the really clever cartoons and
sayings Mr. Spencer produced with anyone else in the world. So
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
567
you will see how interwoven this word was with our inner history,
and how utterly secret it was necessarily kept between our two
selves. You may be sure that I only reveal it now with the utmost
reluctance, and because upon it hangs what I take to be valuable evi-
dence of survival.
After the great change came, I visited several mediums of good
repute, receiving but little for my pains. Naturally, my great hope
was to hear some familiar thing, and what I was really looking and
longing for was one of the intimate names he used to call me by,
which were not quite so far-fetched and improbable. The idea of
ever hearing “ Minnie-cat ” from another person's lips was as remote
from my thoughts as the idea of finding a diamond on the street-
corner — more so, if possible
But next in this sitting Mrs. Borden seemed to see my husband
sitting at a typewriter. I am always anxious to avoid making lead-
ing or suggestive remarks, and so, knowing my husband to be a very
poor manipulator of the typewriter, I went to the other extreme and
said : “ Does he seem to write like an expert? ” She said, " No, he
has to stop every now and then and look for the letters.” That is
exactly the way he did write. Then she seemed to see a letter issu-
ing from the machine. The first word on it was “ Minnie,” and I
must say I was almost paralyzed for the moment, because this
name entered our lives in no way but this one. I said nothing,
however, but simply asked her to repeat and spell the name, which
she did, and there was no mistake about its being “ Minnie." Then
she read on, clairvoyantly : “ Smile and be brave. Try to make the
best of it. It is only for a little while.” “ Then,” said the psychic,
“ he makes a lot of little crosses like kisses, and draws a cat." Well,
I will admit I broke down here, and told her it was good, but I did
not tell her what it was, or how good, and to this day she has no idea
in the world that she had given me in two sections, one a drawing,
and widely separated, my husband's best pet-name, ” Minnie-cat.”
The crosses for kisses were very characteristic, but the separation of
the syllables of the name looks like deliberate intent, and not only as
though my husband were indeed communicating, but as if someone
who knew just how valuable such a method would be were helping
him. I might say that my husband in earth life was completely oc-
cupied with matters pertaining thereto, and did not care for psychical
research, as feeling no need for it, and feeling so much more inter-
568 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ested in the life that was then his than in any possible life to be.
However, he knew my keen and constant interest in trying to reach
across, and my agony of longing to know, and knowing this, if his
memory and personality survived, he would most undoubtedly try to
reach me, and would not perhaps know how to go about it at first,
but would certainly not rest until he had sent me some assurance.
Would it not be reasonable to suppose that my husband impressed
that intimate and unusual name upon the psychic’s mind — he and
no other? — If it had been nothing further than mind reading by
the psychic of my own memories, I can only say that nothing was
further from my thoughts at the time, and if she had probed deep
down into my subconsciousness for the word, I think she would have
brought it out whole and all together.
Mrs. Borden continued : “ Did your husband play the organ ? I
can see him sitting at a big pipe organ, and he pulls out the different
stops, and he is smoking a cigarette and flicking the ashes off with his
finger.” The organ was one of the deep passions of his soul. Years
ago, he owned one of the first organs that were mechanically ope-
rated. It was a very good one, and really required some understand-
ing of music to manipulate it properly. It allowed great scope for
personal expression. He was devoted to it, but it was disposed of
before I met him. I never saw him at an organ, but many, many
times at the piano, on which he could play quite well, and usually
with a cigarette resting on the piano near the keys. He would
take a puff from time to time, and flick the ashes off with his
finger with a lordly indifference as to where they fell. James’s love
for the organ was so intense that when we were planning the home
that was never to be on earth, I only had one wish in regard to it,
and that was that we should have a great pipe organ built in for his
delight. I never had any ideas at all about our house (to be), ex-
cept that.
James [pseudonym] was an advertising manager, and used to be
fond of sketching out his ideas roughly for the artists to execute.
The first time I rode on the subway after his death many new ad-
vertising cards had been placed in the cars. Two of them struck me
immediately with the thought “ James did that.” One was a rather
badly done picture with a water lily in it, and for several reasons it
meant him to me, because of the pond previously referred to and
because of an advertisement we planned together, the chief feature of
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 569
which was water lilies. I felt as if the idea was his, and that he had
impressed the artist to do it. Another was the face of a darling
baby boy (one feels sure it is a boy) crying with the big tears stand-
ing on his precious cheeks. I have always adored baby boys, and
love to see them cry ; not that I enjoy their suffering, but it makes
me want to take them and squeeze them with the idea of making
them perfectly happy. When I saw this picture, I just knew in-
wardly that James had inspired that for me.
Mrs. Borden said she saw the picture of a water lily, and I
thought of the advertisement. I said, “ James, did you inspire some
advertisements for me to see ? ” In a short space of time, but not at
once, Mrs. B. said a very big " Yes " appeared across James’s trunk
at which she was looking. That was like him, too, in a way. When
he wanted to be emphatic, he would not become verbose, but just
say “ Yes ” in a big way such as might be represented with very large
type or writing. I asked if he had done anything else, and Mrs. B.
said she saw a baby. It was naked and seemed to be in a swing or
something, she could not tell what. There was also a naked baby
in a bath tub among the subway advertising cards that I had
thought was his idea, but not so strongly as others. Mrs. B. con-
tinued : “ Now I see a baby [9] crying with its little mouth open and
the big tears standing on its face.” “ Is it the whole figure, or just
the face?” I asked. "Just a face,” she said. Of course, this last
might well have been telepathy, as I was naturally thinking of just
that, and wishing for it, but the whole sitting was so good, and so
evidential, that I was willing to accept the latter as coming from my
husband along with the rest, his presence seemed so well established.
It made me very happy; in fact, seems up to this date, January 6th,
to have practically changed my outlook on life.
Mrs. Borden heard the words: “Only Mother,” which meant a
very great deal to me, as he often used that expression and had done
so during his last illness. I had not mentioned this to Mrs. Borden.
I asked if he was happy and she heard : “ Beautiful life here,” which,
of course, anyone might say. It had no significance for me in par-
ticular. Other detached words which came through and which had
no especial meaning for me were:
9. One of Mrs. Spencer’s pet-names for her husband was “ Ba-boy
(pronounced bay-boy), which was a contraction of the words ‘‘baby boy,”
570 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“Home,” “Maud," “Henry,” “Felix,” “Thelma,” “my big
boy.”
She heard the words addressed to herself : “ God bless you, my
dear woman, God bless you.”
She saw cats in various attitudes and the footprints of some small
animal like a cat. We were both extremely fond of cats and kittens
and I liked to fancy we had once been incarnated as high grade cats
in Egypt.
SITTING OF JANUARY 4th, 1922.
Mrs. Borden saw written the name “ Mimi,” which she pro-
nounced as if it were “ Mymy.” “ Mimi, dear, however the world
may treat you, remember I am waiting.”
My husband’s sister is named Mimi, with the short sound of the
i’s. The name was unknown to the psychic.
Mrs. B. : “ He draws a rose. Draws a turtle. [See list of names.]
[10] Didi, dado, dido.” [She seemed unable to make a word of this,
but it looks as if a certain intimate name were trying to come through
with indifferent success. See list of names.] [11]
Psychic described a big, light gray moth. An unusually large
light gray moth, at least five inches long once settled on the outside
of our house and remained there for days. My husband was keenly
interested in the strange visitor, and Mrs. Borden’s description im-
mediately reminded me of the incident.
Mrs. B.: “He writes ‘Jeannette, true blue, Willoughby,
peaches.’ ” [This suggested nothing to me.]
Psychic heard again “ Thank you verrry much.” This is a repe-
tition of previous evidential phrase which psychic now knows to be
his pronunciation.
Mrs. Borden heard the word “ Minnie." [Good. See list of
names.] “ Mimi, dear.” [His sister’s name again.] “ Very nice of
you to consider me. Write your father a letter. He will be de-
lighted and pleased.”
“ Blackfeather. Martha.” She then saw him sitting weak in a
chair with a man attendant. [This might have been a memory of his
10. "Turtle” was one of the names.
11. Another of the pet-names for Mr. Spencer was '* Dadie ” (pronounced
Day-dee).
Mediumistic Experiments unth Mrs. Borden.
571
last illness, as he had been in that position.] “ Teddie. Susan.” [I
could not place any of the four foregoing names.]
" Someone must have wronged him [Quite true] and begs his
forgiveness. Was he accused of something? [Not to my knowl-
edge] because this man says he was innocent.”
Here I asked what his present occupations were, and she heard
in reply : “ I am following the studies that I was unable to pursue
when I was on the earth plane." This would apply. He was eager
for knowledge of all kinds, and had not time to study as much as he
desired, but this is not the sort of thing I would have discussed with
Mrs. Borden.
Psychic saw meshes, like a spider web, very intricate. Then she
saw a figure like a human being with “ a big other part — a big
thing behind it.” This was a very good description of my own
thought pictures during the past months when I have endeavored to
visualize the whole personality of a human being, comprising both
conscious and subconscious “ other part.”
“ I see a big thing like a Ferris Wheel, and it goes this way and
that — oh, I don’t know how to describe it! ” [Excellent as a prob-
able reflection of my own speculations into the nature of fourth di-
mensional existence. I would like, of course, to believe it an at-
tempted confirmation from the “ other side,” altho telepathy seems
the more obvious explanation here.]
The thoughts of my own mentioned in the last two paragraphs
are not of the sort I would speak of in conversation with Mrs.
Borden.
Psychic saw my husband circling around the room like a big light.
Hovering over my couch, he seemed to place a wreath at the head of
it. The wreath was wholly of dark evergreen, no holly nor any
touch of red as might have been expected at that season, but just
dark green. On Christmas day just passed I had placed exactly such
a wreath on my husband’s grave against the headstone, but I had not
mentioned this to anyone. Mrs. Borden does not know the location
of the grave ; she could not have seen the wreath.
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN JAN. 20, 1922.
He shows me a long, round box with nickels and dimes in it. [ I
could not recall such a box, but thought of a square burnt-wood box
in which my husband kept odds and ends. Upon her showing me
572 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
its length, however, and saying it was metal, I remembered a box ol
exactly that description in which my husband used to keep small
coins until enough accumulated for him to buy me a present. This
fund was more or less his secret, and so I suppose the matter left
no great impression on my mind : until reminded in this way, I had
entirely forgotten it.]
He shows me a bird like an aeroplane, like sea-gulls. [ He loved
both sea-gulls and airplanes — delighted in all things aquatic and
aerial.] I see you in a summer dress and large hat, looking young.
[I used always to wear broad-brimmed hats in summer, and he liked
me in them. Psychic has seen pictures of me so dressed.]
I see a lot of stairs, and there is a baby at the bottom of them.
[A few nights previously I had dreamed of a lot of winding stairs
at the bottom of which was a dear little boy James and I both used
to love. I dreamt I went down and carried him up.]
I see a cat looking over the back of a collie. [No special mean-
ing.] [12] Do you remember telephone conversations we used to
have about the automobile, when we were trying to decide which one
to get? [No. This is inaccurate.]
There is someone who says “ Marian ” so plainly. [My name,
which psychic knows.] " I wonder if she realizes I can see her so
plainly. Beautiful woman that I idolize." [ I think this is meant for
me, although allowances must be made for extravagant adjective.]
Psychic gets up and walks like a blind person. She says, “ There
is a woman here who was blind before she died, and suffered with
cataracts." [A cousin of whom my parents were very fond was blind
from cataracts when she died.] “ She goes to the typewriter and
writes a letter with three copies, using blue and red carbons. She
writes: 'Using heart’s blood to give you message. Bloodless, but
very much alive. Ether and vapor cannot keep us apart. Put your
mind at ease, I am trying to bring you in touch with someone whose
12. The significance of the cat, in connection with the most prominent of
the pet names, has already been explained, but the collie has no known mean-
ing. Yet, if the latter picture was intended by whatever projected it, there
may have been some meaning not made clear. For instance, had there been
a collie familiar to Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, whose name was Minnie, the two
animals together would have been equivalent to “ Minnie-cat" One party
might seek to evoke a memory association and the other fail to remember
This is simply to illustrate the possibilities.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 573
spiritual influence will enable you to communicate with me direct.' ”
(None of these references have significance for me. Psychic did
not know of the relative.]
Psychic looks at pictures of my husband, and seems to read his
lips, which say: “ Mimi loves you, and understands." [A letter re-
ceived later from my sister-in-law, Mimi, gave force to this, as it
was full of affection and understanding, of which I had not been at
all certain at the time of the sitting. See Notes of Feb. 19th.]
“ Long as the time may seem, it is short at most. Mr. Stewart
(pseudonym] has been quite a help to you, and has brought comfort
to many.” [Psychic knows I attend Mr. Stewart’s meetings.]
" However, time must take its course. Johnnie.” [This name has
no meaning for me, unless it is a reference to Mr. Stewart’s first
name, which is John, and which the psychic could have known.]
He seems to be trying to draw a sunset. The sky is full of red
colors. Minnie [First part of pet-name] Blake — lock, Blacklock.
[This is the name of my godfather, long deceased, unknown to
psychic.] Chile, [13] hide, storm coming. Cover those ankles with
gaiters and protect your lungs. [There was no indication of storm
at the time, but a few days later one came in which I slipped on the
fresh snow and fainted five times in succession from the fall.]
Waite, Billie. [No meaning.] [I often have a brilliant spark of
light fall across my eye. This happened here, and at the same time
psychic saw a cross through a crown behind me.] Catherine. Boyne,
I see a very religious man surrounded by books and symbols of re-
ligion. Walter. Cadmer. [I gather no meaning from any of the
latter.]
Psychic says my husband speaks to her of Professor Daniels.
“ He was a splendid teacher. I was always nervous and my mind
confused but he brought me out of chaos. [Very true.] It is a
wonder my wife did not advise you to take it up. [I did.] It was
my regeneration. [It was. Psychic knows about his studies in this
line and name of his teacher, but was not aware that it had been his
regeneration, as he considered it practically was.]
“ Mother, mother, mother, I want you with me. My life is
lonely here. With you with me, I could be so happy when the jour-
13. The context makes it possible that the word “ chilly " was intended.
574 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ney ends. Wait just a little while longer, dear. I cannot live this
life without you. I only wish I had a daughter living like you. I
would have been more than satisfied. You would have had some
comfort from her. You would not have been so lonely. [This is, of
course, true.] Yes, I love you. You appreciate me, don’t you ? ”
“ Bless her heart. Katydid. We enjoyed listening to the katy-
dids’ night serenades. [No meaning here at all.] Don’t you wish
we could do it all over again? (“Won't we live again?”) Yes,
but not as if I were a living, breathing man. It is summer in Japan.
It is still wintertime in New York. [Here communicator speaks to
psychic ironically: "You have a wonderful way of expressing my
sentiments.”] [ 14] I lean towards spiritualism in this world. Prob-
ably did not realize the significance of it before I passed over. [Very
true.] I am well over my sickness. I feel well and have no desire
to return. When I have you with me I shall feel as if we had never
parted. Minnie — meow, meow! [Here is the name “ Minnie-eat”
again in another form.] [15] [Here communicator speaks as if
aside to someone else not visible to the psychic and says] A beautiful
woman I know used to make me very happy. [I think this means
me again, despite the inapplicable description.] Meow, meow.
There is nothing else like it. [If that means the name, indeed there
is not.] I understand. You little kitten, you little kitten complains.
[I feel sure that “you” should be your.] Do not come near me.
Fraidy cat.
[The reference to the kitten I take to be another variation of the
pet-name, Minnie-cat. In fact, in our family, the word Minnie-cat
meant a small cat, or kitten.]
[Now communicator speaks to psychic, who is looking at two of
his photographs.] Which picture do you like best? I moved about
some. I took a lot of time. [I do not know to what this may
refer except that in life he had travelled a very great deal.]
14. Here the purported communicator intimates that his words do not
always get through verbatim, that in their passage through the psychic’s mind
they are liable to alteration or distortion.
15. In a private letter to me, Feb. 7, 1922, Mrs. Spencer remarks : “ Natu- *
rally, 1 would never have taken the trouble to write all this if I had the
faintest suspicion that I had at any time let slip this pet name to the psychic.
I know that it has never been on my lips since my husband left my sight ten
months ago.”
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
575
“ Sweet, sweet, sweet.” [Here the psychic turned to me with a few
words of explanation, and heard the communicator speak to an un-
seen companion : “ Just gossip, I suppose,” as if referring to our little
talk together.] “ James is with me besides my mother, father,
grandmother and grandfather." [I believe there was an Uncle
James of whom Mrs. Borden does not know, but she does know that
the parents are dead.] “ Bahby.” [Psychic says he says this as a
baby would say it, and waves his hand. That is exactly what he
used to do in life in imitation of a dear little boy we both loved, and
who is referred to above.] Sincere wishes, write again. [Then
there was something like] Bad Boy [or] Baboy. [Ba-boy was one
of the names I used to call him.] “ Oh, well, you understand, dear.
Poor Popsy Wopsv.” [He called me this a few times.] [16] [I
made some apology to psychic for the silly things we had to say to
each other, and she heard clairaudiently :] What do I care, you must
not mind us, Mrs. Borden. We idolized each other. We both un-
derstand each other perfectly, but one is mother, and one is dead.
However, both realize it. I know we are not separated, only bodily.
My spirit is behind you all the time, watching over you. Keeping
you very near me. Your little heart is broken. I would not have
you afraid for anything. Next Sunday will you go to my grave?
(Yes, dear, but I do not feel that it is you who are there.) Go to
grave. You brought me and laid me there. It is still me too. My
broken-hearted little raindrop. [Not a characteristic name, but it
might apply now to my many tears.] Keep all those little troubles
off your mind. [I had been annoyed over some trifle, which Mrs.
Borden did not know until afterwards.] My little rose. [Very un-
usual.] Tired mother [much more usual and fitting]. That is all
dear. Next Tuesday night I will be with you. [Mrs. B. did not
know I had a dinner engagement for the following Tuesday night.
It was with some delightful people who are interested in psychic
matters, and I received so much pleasure and comfort at that time
that I had reason to believe he was with me, as promised.]
When this sitting terminated, I remarked to the psychic that
16. But Mrs. Spencer says that she does not ascribe much evidential
weight to this, as “ popsy-wopsy " did not take rank as one of her established
pet-names, but her husband used the expression a few times, as thousands of
other husbands have done.
576 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
while not quite so good as that of December 30th, it was very good,
and introduced some excellent evidence. For some reason I was im-
pelled to say : “ It was the sort of thing that would please Dr. Hyslop
if he were living.” I don’t know why I said this, as I never knew
Dr. Hyslop. As I spoke Mrs. Borden said she saw a very learned-
looking man behind me, and heard him say : “ That is what we are
trying so hard to do.” [17]
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN JANUARY 25, 1922.
1. [Shortly after psychic arrived, I fell into a deep trance-like
condition, which has occurred before in the presence of psychics
when the influences seem exceptionally strong. [18] During this
time psychic saw — so she afterwards stated — a vision of myself and
my husband, both with wings, but his figure light and mine dark.
She also wrote down what she heard clairaudiently.]
2. How do you do. I am always around you. Tell my dear
wife I was grieved when I woke up and she could not follow me.
Do not bring that gentleman up to Stewart's because he would not
embrace that belief, sincere and earnest he may seem to be. [This
latter is very odd, as it referred to a gentleman she wanted to take
up to one of Mr. Stewart’s seances, and had asked me to try to get
him a ticket. I had agreed to do so, and we were both in favor of his
going.] You are a fine little woman [meaning Mrs. Borden.] Tell
me, is it any trouble for you to be with my wife? [She said it was
not.] “Thank you very much. Close to my heart I hold you
[meaning sitter]. Close to my side. Dearest, I caress and adore
you. [Here I awakened, and took notes myself.]
3. Tuesday. [I could not find any meaning in the reference.
Mrs. B. said she saw my husband and that he looked fresh as if he
had just had his bath and was ready to go out.] I can see a woman
17. Of course, under the circumstances, or even if Mrs. Spencer had not
spoken, this would have no evidential value. It is simply a part of the record.
18. Note added by Mrs. Spencer, Feb. 19th, 19a — During the tranoe-like
condition mentioned, my eyes were a little bit open and I could see a cluster
of small blue lights hovering between me and the psychic, about on a level
with our faces. When I came to myself again and opened my eyes, they
drifted slowly upward and gradually disappeared. A shaded lamp was burn-
ing, yet the blue lights, about the size of peas, were very distinct through the
lamplight
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
577
here with dark hair, and with a serious expression in her eyes. She
says to you: “Mrs. Spencer, it is very wonderful here. My eyes
are opened and I seem to be awake from a deep sleep. I brought
Mr. Spencer to you." She says : “ It was quite a long trip. It is a
thousand times better than anything I expected to see. It is re-
markable how we are able to communicate and get in touch with you.
It is just a little thought, and we are there.” She says : “ It is going
to be very amusing unless I can get rid of these shoes on my feet."
[19J [This latter had so much meaning for me that I asked psychic
to describe the lady more particularly, which she did, as follows:]
Slim, black hair, prominent eyes, with a very serious, pained expres-
sion. [This is exactly as Miss Fielding, a friend of mine and my
husband’s, looked when she died. The eyes had not been prominent
in health, but only during her last illness. Here psychic laughed and
said:] She does not like that description, and makes a little clicking
sound of protest with her lips, but there is a new side as well that
looks like one regenerated. [Miss Fielding was here reported to
say: “That's much better.” Then Mr. Spencer said: "Thank you
very much,” and as if an aside to someone not visible : “ Don’t pay
any attention. — A remarkable demonstration.”] He is helping her
19. Note added Feb. 19th, ipse — Miss Josephine Fielding was my near
neighbor and good friend in my husband's life time. Being a nurse, she
nursed him through his last illness, and was with him when he died. She died
seven months afterward. Before he became very ill, Miss Fielding used to
come in to see him every morning, and one morning, she had dressed hur-
riedly and put on a tan stocking and a black one without noticing that they
did not match. She was Irish and my husband English, and it was during
the time of the worst trouble in Ireland. When she came in, my husband
laughingly said : 'It is lucky for you you are not in Ireland now, Miss
Fielding.” She said: “Why is that?” and he pointed to her hosiery and
said: “They would shoot you for a Black and Tan.” This, of course, created
a great laugh. After my husband's death. Miss Fielding was like an angel
to me, and used to visit me faithfully and talk about him to me. The last
time she came before her own fatal illness, she said : “ Every time I look
down at my feet I think of Mr. Spencer, and what he said about the Black
and Tans.” It had evidently made a great impression upon her, as I do not
suppose it is usual to And a sick man ready to make jokes. I cannot help
feeling that Miss Fielding was communicating, and that the remark— “ It is
going to be very amusing unless I can get rid of these shoes on my feet” was
a reference to that joke between us three, only with a confusion of the word
•* stockings ” with the other article of footwear, shoes.
578 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
as though he is stronger, and trying to hold her up. Did she die of
pneumonia or bronical [sic] trouble? — for I hear that bronical
cough." [20) [She did die of just this, and while I think Mrs. B.
knew of the pneumonia, I am positive that I had never mentioned to
her the bronchial trouble with which my friend had suffered all her
life. It seemed a part of her, she had had it so long, and while it
did contribute to her death to quite an extent, I never thought of it
in that connection, but always told people simply that Miss Field-
ing died of pneumonia.) He is so strong, but she must have just
come out of a long sleep. She is saying something about “ Let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works." [I
do not know what this would mean especially, except that Miss
Fielding was herself full of good works in her lifetime.) Then
she says : “ I f you were to tell my mother she would not believe this
possible. It is beyond their understanding. It is not possible for
them to ever realize.” [This is rather strange, as the mother is al-
ready on the other side of life. I think what was meant was the
family, for the plural pronoun is used afterwards, and the substance
of what is said would apply to her family.)
4. Petsey. [Mr. Spencer is now said to be the communicator.)
[One of the names which was applied to Mr. S. was “ Pinchie,” with
20. Note added Feb. I9lh, >922 — The description of Miss Fielding is
very good, especially the point about the protruding eyes, which was their
condition when she died, due to her suffering, but not at all in health. Her ap-
pearance was totally unknown to psychic. She was one of the gentlest of
women, and the protest she made against the uncomplimentary description of
her appearance was just the sort she would make. Her sister states that she
thinks she has made just that little sound in such circumstances. In this
connection, it is interesting to note that shortly after her death, when all
Mrs. Borden knew about it was that a dear friend of mine had died of pneu-
monia, and perhaps that her name was Miss Fielding (I never called her
anything else), she came in one evening and said to me: "Was your friend’s
name Josie? Because 1 have been hearing a voice speaking to me, and she
said her name was Josie, and she said * Tell Mrs. Spencer not to worry so
much about impossible things.' ” I was astonished, because I am sure I had
never mentioned her Christian name to Mrs. Borden, for the reason that I
never called her that myself or even thought of her as anything but '* Miss
Fielding." It is certain that I rever told Mrs. Borden of the joke because
I never had any occasion to speak of Miss Fielding to her at all until she
became ill and died, and then I was far too distressed to even think of that
day when, almost for the last time, we three laughed together.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
579
variants “ Pitty.” “ Pettit,” and “ Pitchie.” Ed.] [Then he makes
a sound which psychic describes as being like snoring or gargling,
and he seems to be taking deep breaths. I thought this excellent as
I believed he was giving the sound which was one of his exercises
when he was studying public speaking. It was a sound something
like that of gargling, and all the class had to do it for practice. It
became quite a joke among them, and Mr. Spencer and some of his
friends used to greet each other with it, and call it their college yell.
Therp is no way in which the psychic could have known of this.
The deep breathing also was connected with his exercises, and he
practised them constantly before his illness. Psychic then heard
words that sounded like] Gristie nightie [and] Criss cross, criss cross
[whose meaning I could not discover. It may be something else
connected with his exercises which I cannot now recall. Then she
said he seemed to be making vowel sounds, forming them with his
lips. I asked what she thought it meant, and she said it seemed to
her like elocution exercises, and that he told her it was what she
ought to be doing herself. She knows, as stated, of his interest in
speaking, and has often felt him urge her to study it herself. Next
she heard him say] Bright Boy [at the same time making a motion
with lips and tongue which one would do in forming smoke rings, a
performance at which he was quite proficient. She did not know he
did this, but I informed her of the fact then. The words “ Bright
Boy ” might refer to himself as he was doing so well and getting so
many good things across to me, but it was also the name of a polish-
ing material he used to use. He liked everything spotless and bright
about him. “ Bright Boy ” was one of the last things he had bought
for this purpose. I said nothing of this to Mrs. B. because I did not
see the possible connection myself until later. Then she said he
seemed to be reading with lowered voice, but in such a tone that
“ even though the voice was low, you could hear it in the uttermost
comers of the room.” Then he nodded, and said] Return again,
[repeating the phrase three times and then withdrawing with the
words] Thank you very much. [The whole of the above paragraph
gives a very characteristic picture of what my husband would be
doing if still on earth, and conceivably is doing now.]
5. Are you satisfied with the results so far? [Mrs. B. heard him
say. I had felt during the foregoing so much as if my husband were
really there, and so familiar and at home by hearing all these char-
580 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
acteristic things that I said to him, as often in life: “ You are a clever
boy.”] That is what I like to know. [Then I asked for some of the
things we used to memorize together.] Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
tell my wife just how you are. [This was very wide of the mark
indeed, unless it refers to the star-like appearances that often come
to me in the darkness of my room. These blue or golden lights 1
never saw until some month or two after my husband’s death, and
many people seem to think they are connected with some manifesta-
tion of spirit.
[Mrs. B. heard him say] Van Cortlandt Park. Mother knows.
[That seems to be getting nearer what I asked for.] [21] [I was
much pleased, and said: “You don’t know what a clever boy you
are.”] I am glad you think so. I try to be a clever boy, but you
were my inspiration. [The latter is just what he would say in the
circumstances, but I have not told the psychic the things in our life
that would suggest this to her. It is the sort of thing she would not
understand.]
6. “ Pretchie — Picture — ” [ Pretchie resembled a pet name of
my husband’s, as though it were trying to come through, but could
not succeed, and Mr. Spencer said to Mrs. B. :] “ I wish you would
not act like that. I see you cannot understand my enunciation some-
times, that is it.” [22] [She often receives a mild scolding from
the other side.] Buttercups and daisies, you know how we used to
21. Note added Feb. 19th, tgee — I was very anxious to hear through the
psychic some of the things we used to memorize together in taking our mem-
ory exercises, and “Van Cortlandt Park" seemed to me an attempt to get
something over, because on a picnic the two of us had, taking our lunch to
Van Cortlandt Park, we had amused ourselves by going over some of the
memory exercises, and Mr. Spencer had been in particularly high spirits
and had recited a whole poem with an exact imitation of a rather stupid
little boy who could not speak plainly. It was screamingly funny. The
day had been so perfect in every respect, the weather so enchanting, the scene
so beautiful and the enjoyment of each other's society so unclouded that I
remember saying to myself, particularly while Mr. Spencer was doing the
exceedingly funny recitation, that this was a day I would remember all my
life, whatever might happen.
22. This makes the more likely that neither " Pretchie ” nor " Picture "
represented the intention, and that what was aimed at was the pet-name,
“ Pinchie,” or one of its three variants which had been used “ Pitty "
“ Pitchie" or “ Pettit”— Ed.
Mcdiumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 581
like those flowers. [This is not accurate.] [23] Best regards to
everybody. Tweetheart. Never you mind, dear, I understand. 1
am more than glad to have you here [meaning Mrs. B.] Besides
that, we are quite harmonious.
7. Small world after all. Mimi, dear sweet soul who does not
realize the meaning of spiritualism like you do. It is far beyond her
depth. It is too deep for her. Mother. [Psychic says here the
photograph of my husband which she has been looking at seems tp
fade and his real form takes its place. He says to her:] “ Try to
be a little more sincere. [I believe she is sincere enough, but per-
haps not so much in earnest about her gift as she might be.] “ It is
only a step, Mother.” (“Cannot I take it soon?’’) Yes, but not
just yet. Ittle bittie girl. Papa don’t want you to be sad. [This is
not good, he never called me that, nor himself “ Papa.” Perhaps he
realized that she was not giving this correctly, for the next thing he
says is] [24] No use. Meows meows. [Good.] Howard. [I do not
know what the name means. Mrs. B. says:] There is a slim man
here, not tall, with a Van Dyke beard. [I do not know who this could
be. The following words are also meaningless to me.] Babcock.
Specks. Tallahassee. Shawl straps.
8. Mr. Spencer is throwing a ball to you. [In Van Cortlandt
Park (See footnote) I produced a rubber ball which I had found
and have kept, and we played with it, tossing it back and forth.]
He is taking up a book and studying. He is sitting in a rocker with
his feet raised up. Very serious, knocking ashes off into ash tray.
[25]. " Piedmont Cigarettes." [She discovered previously through
psychometry that he had used this kind of cigarette.]
23. Note added Feb. 19th, 192* — Mrs. Borden often has some difficulty in
making out what he is trying to say, so I think some of the things do not
come to me exactly as sent.
24. Note added Feb. 19th, 1922 — It is true that my sister-in-law did not
take any interest in spiritism, but she tells me now that she is willing to do so
if I think she can help me. Later Mrs. Borden asked me if Mr. Spencer had
a step-mother, and when I answered in the negative, she asked if 1 had. This
also I denied, and she seemed quite puzzled, then a light dawned, she said:
“You see how it is, I don’t always understand. He is saying, 'it is only a
step. Mother,’ and I thought it was something about a step-mother." The
“ Papa ” is not good ; that word was never used between us.
25. Note added Feb. 19th, 1922 — The attitude and action here described
is just as I have seen him thousands of times. A most characteristic touch.
582 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
9. It is better in the end that it happened as it did because now
you have an insight into the very things that you were curious about.
(It cannot be better for me to have lost you.) I did not mean that,
dear, but from a scientific standpoint. You were always interested
in phenomena of any kind — always eager to search out the mysteri-
ous. [This is quite true.] (And are you going to help me with this,
to find out?) Yes, I am trying to dear the way for you. Wait a
little while longer. Do not be too eager. Better a little than none at
all. Perhaps I may be able to make you understand.
“ Noody, or nodee dee, no daydy.” [One of the pet names for
Mr. S. was “ Dadie," pronounced day-dee. £</.]
“ Read books on numerology, the science of numbers. You will
be able to tell why you are placed in that particular position.”
“ Petuana — Pet you on your cheek. Gege — hello, Edie. [In life
he knew someone named Edie, but I did not. She is still living, I
believe.] Hockey stick.” [26]
(Concluded in next issue.)
26. Rote added Feb. 19th, rget — What is said here is very good insofar as
I have always been curious about and interested in the scientific demonstra-
tion of immortality. No doubt Mrs. Borden knows this from my past con-
versations; yet the way it is expressed is not Mrs. Borden’s and could well be
my husband's. What is said about reading books on numerology I am fain to
believe is a product of Mrs. Borden’s own subconsciousness, for I have often
heard her express an interest in numerology, while I doubt very much if my
husband ever even heard of it in his lifetime. The last lines are practically
meaningless to me. except that Mr. Spencer did have a way of caressing me
very gently on the cheek (much as a kitten would do with its soft paws).
>0)11
Book Reviews.
583
BOOK REVIEWS.
Through Jewelled Windows, by Frank C. Raynor. Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trubner and Co., London. Pp. xvi-(-i02.
This may be described as a book of religion, illuminated by psychol-
ogy. It is rational, facile and lucid in expression, and enriched by well-
selected quotations. It has scattered through it references to psychic
phenomena. Its last chapter, entitled “ Spirit Communications,” does
not attfempt formal proof, but expresses in moderate terms the convic-
tion that psychical research has demonstrated communication.
One sentence reads : “ Had the Christians of ioo years ago been told
that the day would come when the world and the scientist were readier
to believe in the ministry of angels and the communion of saints than
the Church itself, they would have grimly smiled in utter incredulity, yet
that is the exact position in which we find ourselves today.” — W. F. P.
The Process of Man’s Becoming, by “ Quaestor Vitae." With intro-
duction by David Gow. Duckworth & Co., London, 1921. Pp. 254.
Price, 8 shillings.
In a general way, this may be said to belong to the Andrew Jackson
Davis class of books, or at any rate to those of that author which discuss
cosmic themes. To persons who hold Davis’s books in high esteem, to
say that this one measures up well beside them, though by no means
uniformly consonant with their teaching, is high praise.
But the book is hardly in contact with scientific psychical research,
since the multitude of statements supposed to be from “ Beings in the
central state of our Cosmos ” relate to alleged facts so remote that
science cannot reach them or to alleged influences at work upon our
planet so occult that the hand of investigation cannot touch them.
The assertion that the “ Mighty Ones ” held a council and planned
" the formation of another Universe ” in addition to an indefinite number
of existing universes, apart from the verbal paradox, defies disproof,
but it equally cannot be proved not to be a product of imagination.
Equally immune from both disproof and proof is the statement that
“ light and heat are the expression of life thought.” Or that “ Angelic
Beings " live in the sun. It would seem to us a hot place for a resi-
dence, but we know nothing about their constitutions.
The assumption that it is a point of evolutionist doctrine that a
species “ by its own inherent power of will ” gives rise to another
species, is rather amusing, and causes us to suspect that there may be
errant statements about cosmic evolution. — W. F. P.
The Church and Psychical Research. A Layman’s View. By George E.
Wricht. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1920. Pp. 147.
This little book is an excellent discussion of the subject. Mr. Wright
is very fair in his statement of the evidence for spirit communications
584 Journal of Ihe American Society for Psychical Research.
which has been accumulated through psychic research. He rejects much
phenomena as non-evidential, but he finds an abundance of convincing
testimony which he says cannot be reasonably explained on any other
theory. The chapter on Cross Correspondences is particularly useful as
it gives in forty pages a synopsis of the evidence of this kind which has
been published by the English Society for Psychical Research and which
needs in its original form several weeks of study. The book is about
equally divided between a statement of the evidence and an impartial
discussion of the principles of the subject from the standpoint of tradi-
tional Christian faith. The conclusion of the book is a strong plea for
continued research. Revelation is progressive, writes the author. Full
revelation is not attained. Knowledge is to be wrested from God’s store-
house— Nature — by the use of those powers of reason and intellect which
God has given us. “ And there is no condemnation, nay, there is indeed,
as there was for Jacob, blessing for those who fear not thus to wrestle.”
— Geo. H. Johnson.
Can the Dead Communicate with the Living T By I. M. Haldeman, D.D.
New York, 1920. Pp. 158.
This book, by a writer who has been called “ the greatest prophet of
the Lord now standing in any pulpit in this country,” aims at showing
that the so-called phenomena of modem spiritualism are due to the
agency of evil spirits. Psychical researchers are always willing to listen
to anybody who presents theories which have some evidence to support
them. Dr. Haldeman presents no evidence and this is not really surpris-
ing. The devil theory is often held by persons of the clerical persuasion
who naturally see in the religious aspect of spiritualism a menace to
their own profession. Dr. Haldeman imagines that by pointing to the
Bible he can put these subjects beyond the range of discussion. Any-
body who can read at all knows that any sect or any school of religious
thought can quote the Bible to advantage and in this respect the spirit-
ualists themselves are often singularly successful. The Rev. Walter
Wynn, for example, an English pastor, and curiously enough also a
“ prophet,” is now touring South Africa demonstrating the essential
unity of Biblical and spiritualistic teaching. The author of this book
claims to answer these questions: — Where are they? What arc they?
and Are they? yet his ignorance of psychical literature is such that he
writes calmly of the " case of Howe caught by Browning,” and of
“ Euspasia Palladino ” (p. 144). Further comment on this production
is unnecessary. — E. J. D.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOCIETY
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc.), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and clairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of " roediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering thereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
ASSOCIATES have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal, and of consulting the Library. The annual fee is
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Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. November, 1922 No. 11
CONTENTS
GENERAL ARTICLES:
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts. By Harriet L.
Green .......... 585
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. Part 2. By Mrs.
“Marian W. Spencer.” ....... 604
BOOK REVIEW:
Mcrveillcux Ph^nomdnes de I’au-dela (Madeleine Frondoni
Lacombe) 651
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. |i Annually. Abroad CL la SO cents a copy.
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THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDoucall, D.Sc, M.B.,
F.R.Sm Chairman rx-oIRcio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coover, M.A., Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Chakles L. Dana, M.D., LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D, New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LL.D., San Diego, CaL
H. Norman Gardiner, A.M., Smith CoL
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, F.A.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempppert, B.S, LL.B,
New York. N. Y.
Samuel McComb, D.D, Episcopal Theo-
logical School, Cambridge, Mass.
Wiluam R. New bold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LL.D., New
York, N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D., LL.D, Boston
Mass.
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael I. Putin, Ph.D, LL.D,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Troland, S.B, A.M, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Robert W. Wood, LL.D, Johns Hopkini
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton. Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John .
Weston L.
Titus Bull,
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman es-o&ci*.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D.
Titus Bull, M.D.
Miles M. Dawson.
Mil** M DG
Mrs. Margaret Deland.
Rev. Frederick Edwards.
George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Lawson Purdy.
l
VOLUME XVI— No. 11
NOVEMBER. lMt
JOURNAL
or
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
OSHBKAL ART1CLKS:
P*«»
Pi/JW Slatemti id T wo Independent
Script*. By Harriet L. Green . <84
Pi
MedionUtic Experiment* with Mr*.
Borden. Pert I. By Mr*. "Marien
W. Spencer.” *04
BOOK RgriKW : HI
The r«»poo«ibHlry f
rwM* wntirdy with the
U withheld, k In praamd
whethei at fact or opinion, printed in the Jonnal,
Where, lor food reooon, the writer'* true newt*
file, and is that a t a person apparently trustworthy.
PARALLEL STATEMENTS IN TWO INDEPENDENT
SCRIPTS.
By Harriet L. Green.
“ We are now sending to earth in many ways and through
many mediums messages of exactly similar import, and
hope that the comparison of them will convince thinkers of
the truth of intercommunication."
These words are quoted from a book of automatic writing
entitled, “ To Woman from Meslom ” (p. 84) — a book which
first came into my hands in August of this year, 1922. It was
sent to me, in California, from New York, along with another
book of similar character entitled “ Meslom’s Messages from the
Life Beyond.”
I believe that I have evidence to offer which will to some
extent bear out the words quoted above and I must, therefore, at
the outset present a few dry facts which are necessary for the
right consideration of the evidence.
Both of the two books named above bear copyright notice
of 1920, but the one called “ Meslom’s Messages from the Life
H
586 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Beyond ” is made up of writings dated 1917, while the book, “ To
Woman,” contains messages of later date. The messages were
written down by Miss Mary A. McEvilly, of whom I know
nothing beyond what is given in the introductions to the two
books. I do not even know whether the name given is a true
name or a pseudonym.
During the greater part of the year 1919 and the early part
of 1920 I was almost daily in receipt of communications in
automatic writing and I exchanged a few letters with Dr. Walter
F. Prince on the subject while the experience was in progress.
In June, 1920, I went to New York, carrying with me a good-
sized box of script which I deposited at the office of the S. P. R.
in August, before returning to California. I had previously
copied the greater part of this script and in the summer of 1921 I
published privately a small book entitled, “ Think on These
Things,” which contains excerpts from the communications re-
ceived by me.
At the time these messages were received I supposed that my
experience was almost unique. I have since learned something
of the many others who have had similar experience, but I had
not seen either of the " Meslom ” books until they were sent to
me, as I have said, in August of this year. (I am writing early
in September, 1922.)
I took these books in due order and I had not read far in the
“ Messages from the Life Beyond " before I realized that not
only was the general teaching therein closely similar to that
which had come to me, but that almost every step or phase of
the “ after death ” experience as given there paralleled and thus,
to me, confirmed, the experience which had been written by my
hand, and this to a degree far beyond anything which I had found
in other books.
Then when I came to the second book and found the para-
graph which I have quoted at the top of this article, I did not rest
until I had set about making a comparison of parallel passages.
I at once wrote to Dr. Prince asking him to forward to me the
script left at his office in 1920 (which he did promptly), in order
that I might have all my material to draw upon. In fact, nearly
all my parallels are drawn from my little printed book; in only a
few cases have I found a closer parallel in the unpublished script
Parallel Statement ; in Two Independent Scripts.
587
and in these cases I have noted “ script ” against the passage cited.
It should be understood that the original script which was stored
in New York included all, or very nearly all, that was printed in
my book, as well as a good deal more.
There is no claim to exact verbal parallelism in the passages
which I subjoin ; I ask only that they be considered with reference
to their clearly expressed meaning. The difference in the form of
expression can be better appreciated if it is understood that in the
case of Miss McEvilly the messages came in response to her dis-
interested effort, made at a friend’s request, on behalf of a be-
reaved mother who was a stranger to her, but who, I infer from
the book, was always or usually present during the writing. This
writing, it may be added, took place in Paris. The earlier mes-
sages given in the book are from this woman’s son, who, from
the first, stated that he was assisted by the Guide or Teacher
called Meslom. Later on, his messages alternated with teaching
given directly in the name of Meslom, — a name already known to
Miss McEvilly through previous automatic writing, not published.
In my case the messages came directly from my husband to
me ; I wrote alone — no other person was ever present — and they
came with an intensity of dramatic presentment which made me
almost a sharer in the successive phases of his experience. It is
not strange that messages so received should be expressed in a
manner exceptionally intimate and personal.
A further difference would arise naturally out of the fact that
Miss McEvilly’s communicator was a young man whose spiritual
nature was apparently just ready to unfold. He found his Guide
immediately upon wakening into the new consciousness and was
eager to learn and to “ go on,” and the messages, while clearly
and beautifully expressed, are somewhat didactic in style. My
husband, on the other hand, described to me his experiences as
they occurred — and I shared in his pain or joy. He was an older
man and had been much of his life sceptical in matters of religion.
He went through a period of considerable difficulty at first and
was slower in arriving at anything like a clear consciousness of
his surroundings or the ability to transmit to me the teaching
which he received. For some time his thoughts turned to me so
powerfully that he was indifferent to the very idea of “ going
on,” as it is expressed. (I am aware that I am not now writing
588 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
in a style of scientific dispassion, but it can be understood that I
speak of these things as they appear to me.)
It has seemed to me right to state these differences. Now I
will let the excerpts speak for themselves. I give them, not in
parallel columns, but in successively paired paragraphs ; the pairs
numbered consecutively 1 M, 1 G ; 2 M, 2 G ; and so on. M stands
for McEvilly, or “ Messages from Meslom ” ; and the page num-
bers refer to the book, " Meslom’s Messages from the Life Be-
yond.” G stands for Green, or the messages received by me, and
the page numbers refer to my book, “ Think on These Things.”
In a few instances I group together a number of closdy re-
lated passages from each source, thinking that it will be easier in
this way to grasp their combined significance.
1 M — “ Here I am. I can’t tell you much yet. I am so excited at
being alive that I cannot get in trim for calm work. ... I am
going to help you to enjoy this life of mine. ... I shall have the
double happiness of enjoying and of teaching you." (pp. 5-6)
1 G — “ I am with you all the time and I can write to you hours every
day and we can be as happy as we please ! ... I am so excited I
make you write too fast. . . .” (p. 12)
* * *
2 M — “. . . you awakened me from that long sleep which seemed
death. You know I caused this myself because I had been per-
suaded that it was death I was facing. . . (p. 6)
2G — “. . . I had not long believed in any life after death, so why
should I find so much more than I have found ? — and who knows,
if it had not been for . . . and the help you have given me I
might not have found anything at all till who knows when 1 ”
(Script)
* * *
3 M — “ As soon as I realized that I was really alive and could use
my intelligence ... I asked how it could be that I . . . could
be chosen as the helper for this work.” (p. 26)
3 G — “ You know I want to help you and you know I have got in-
telligence, when I am able to use it, and we both believe I am
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts. 589
growing more able to use it. . . . It is something like being bom
over again. . . ." (p. 14)
* * *
4 M — “ I have since learned that the mental state of the dying always
affects the first state of consciousness in this life.” (p. 21)
4 G — “ Think how close we were at the last. You do know that
CQunts for something, don’t you? ... I have kept just so close
to you in my thought ever since.” (p. 15)
* * *
5 M — " Since I awoke the other day I have been far away in a won-
derful country — it seems like the land one sometimes dreamed
and never found.” (p. 5) “ I have been on a wonderful trip
since I saw you. . . .” (p. 10) “ I am like in a beautiful dream.
I am surrounded by beautiful scenes of nature and conscious of
an uplifting force of love." (p. 14)
5 G — “ You know I have been going off on little excursions lately.
Yes, imaginary excursions I suppose. . . . Well, I would think
of some very beautiful scene — partly remembered and partly
imagined — yes, improved as any scene can be improved by a good
imagination . . . colors all lovely, fresh green grass . . . green
wooded hills and a lake once, and another time it was the sea.
. . . O, what good are they without you?” (Script)
* * *
6 M — “ My real nature and love of the beautiful is able to go on
untrammeled. I long for the complete and full expression of my
own nature and know with a marvellous certainty that it is to
come." (p. 17)
6G — “ Surely we must have life together on our own plane of love
and beauty — beautiful things, such as flowers, music, stars, and
the sea I " (p. 10)
* * *
7 M — “ Help me by loving me.
Meslom says he will help you and me, and your faith in my
real life helps me and so I can help you. I can come whenever
you call me and I love you more than ever.” (p. 6)
“. . . the only essential preparation for a better and larger
life here is love. I mean love in a spiritual sense.” (p. 27)
M
590 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
7 G — “ Nothing whatever helps me so much as the knowledge of
your love. I mean the real, spiritual love, and that is the greater
part of your love for me. Yes, and of mine for you.” (p. 14)
“ You do love him and that is the greatest help he can ever
have from the earth plane and I do help him from my own realm
of truth and strength and peace." (Master's words, p. 39)
* * *
8 M — “ I don’t follow all the conditions but I am conscious of your
state of mind.” (p. 15)
8 G — “ I do feel your every emotion and know your every thought
when you are writing and it does give me exquisite pleasure when
you are thinking happy thoughts.” (p. 16)
* * *
9 M — “ It seems strange to hear you read what I told you the other
day ” (p. 22)
9 G — “ I have been very pleasantly and agreeably entertained by
reading over our old writings with you.” (Script)
* * *
10 M — “ I can see you now because you are seated together." (p. 12)
[L. — the young man — here evidently refers to his mother and
Miss McEvilly, the writer.]
10 G — “ Why . . . you know I can see you as plain as anything ! It
is only once in a while I can do that ! " (Script)
* * *
11 M — “ My life is a purely intellectual one passed in the pursuit, or
rather the absorption of knowledge which every day becomes
clearer.” (p. 30)
11 G — “ I have nothing to do but think. On earth there are so many
other things a man can do that he can get out of thinking if he
wants to, but here where there is nothing to distract, one must
think." (p. 22)
* * *
12 M — “ There is no hurry and I know I can only see so far as my
development permits, but I know, too, that there is to be no ob-
stacle to perfection. I know that there are many near me but so
far I feel no need of their presence.” (p. 30)
12 G— “ I do know that there are other beings all around me and that
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts.
591
if I wanted to I could see them — perhaps — , talk with them I
know, but I don't want to till I am sure of myself — of my truth,
my purity and my strength.” (p. 23)
* * *
13 M — “ When you call me, darling mother, it brings me, even if I
am in the depths of darkness. I seem to hear the call — the way
seems to open — a vista of light leads me into the glory of ef-
fulgent day — comes love with you.” (p. 37)
13 G — “ You do give me light. ... I wait to see the light and then
I say, ‘ Harrie is loving me!”' (p. 24)
“You lift me so high . . . endless vistas, illimitable, un-
fathomable. Harmony of light, color, sound. Love is har-
mony.” (p. 32)
* * *
14 M — “ I have learned more in these few weeks of my new life than
a whole life-time of earth’s deepest studies could have even fore-
shadowed.” (p. 23)
14 G — “ I tell you that I know more now than I ever have before and
I want to tell you many things if you will let me.” (p. 25)
* * *
15 M — " Many never think. They live superficially and in a state of
reflected morality which is without force or character either for
good or evil. They remain long in the shadow of the mist and
are slow to progress.” (p. 33)
15 G — ". . . they [the commonplace] are the most hopeless ones.
Without imagination, neither good nor bad, just muddle-headed,
— yes, and comfortable, so they don’t feel the need of any great
change — just a little more comfort or pleasure is all they
want.” (p. 26)
* * *
16 M — “ We do not believe as on earth, we really know.” (p. 37)
16 G — “. . . when I see, I no longer have faith, I have knowl-
edge.” (p. 27)
* * *
17 M — “The life we lead on earth is our preparation for our life
here, and our life here is the result of our previous develop-
ment.” (p. 23)
592 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
17 G — “ I am in the condition that has been brought about by my
past life and whatever you think about it, I know it is just what
I have made. . . (p. 28)
* * *
18 M — “ Since the individual . . . must abide by the law of cause
and effect and its place here depends upon its earth development,
it is self-evident that the nearer the individual has come to per-
fection on earth . . . the clearer will be its perceptions when
arriving here of the truth and the greater will be its strength to
meet the new conditions and the new duties.” (p. 65)
18 G — “ My knowledge at present is limited to my own case . . .
and that is why I say a wise man will pattern his life differently
to what I did mine if he wants to get along faster and better
than 1 do.” (p. 21)
* * *
19 M — “ The clearness of vision which comes to all here and obliges
each to see and examine his own past life in the light of truth
brings a vision truly appalling to most mortals. Such is the force
of this penetrating light that no subterfuge or self-indulgent ex-
cuse can hide from view the truth." (p. 105)
“ Every act of our earth life is faced and judged according to
its innermost reasons, its circumstances and its consequences.
Then each soul is forced to be its own judge. It is made clear
that no one can undo the harm except one’s own self. It is a ter-
rible moment, fraught with tremendous consequences.” (p. 107)
. . ignorance on earth may be so combined with spiritual
wisdom that it falls away from the spirit like a garment. Such
are admitted to the light. . . , They are committed to the care of
guardian spirits and led gently to higher spheres.” (p. 38)
19 G — “ Now I shall begin to think and know myself and while no
doubt I shall suffer more, it will really be a purgative suffering
and I will endure it gladly. . . .” (p. 22)
“ No, one man does not know all right and all wrong, but he
knows his own right and wrong. That is what I mean. He
knows what is wrong for him. He is not asked to judge for
another, not on the spirit plane at least. We men on earth ask
one man to judge for many others in some instances, but here
vj
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts. 593
each man is his own judge, or so it is with me, and I am sure it
must be so with all. How else could it be and be true justice ?
You understand what I mean. I know exactly wherein and
how far I fell short of what I knew. I — my Real Self as you
call me on this plane. ... I know where and how I turned away
from the very highest I knew and went down into the depths.
. . . Who could tell me more than I know about all that ?
You begin to rise to the thought of the cleansing that comes
through this self-knowledge. O, but it is a terrible thing to go
through !
That is the thing I live for . . . when I can feel that I need
never think of it again. Yes, that will come. It will drop from
me as the physical body has gone and be thought of no more than
I think of that.” (pp. 29-30)
* * *
20 M — " If they will to undo the harm at no matter what cost and
ask for help, they are immediately granted a vision of transcend-
ent loveliness in which they see the glorious spirits all about
them amid scenes of exquisite beauty and splendor.” (p. 107)
20 G — “ You think I have been taught ?
You know I am sort of dazed. I seem to be going higher and
higher all the time.
Where am I ?
O, this is wonderful ! You ought to see the colors — . . .
You can still write, but this is Heaven I
Here are the angels all in white ! . . .
No more tears. . . .
No, it is not a vision, it is all real, only I may not stay here
long. . . . Realms of pure love and life; " (pp. 34-35)
* * *
21 M — “ The periods of exaltation which they enjoy make them
realize that all that is best and noblest is to be within their grasp,
and they gladly devote themselves to whatever work is given them
so as to be the sooner ready to undertake the glorious work of
fulfilment they have been given glimpses of. They are the mes-
sengers and helpers of the higher spirits and the bearers of
comfort and love. . . ." (p. 34)
594 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ It is a great joy and a glorious privilege, but it entails suffer-
ing beyond your power to conceive — ” (p. 36)
“ Thank you, mother, for all that you have done. You have
really helped me to overcome tremendous obstacles in the way
of my atonement.” (p. 84)
21 G — “ I know I need to suffer ; Yes, I want to suffer till I am
wiser. That is the thing I have asked for. ... So you see I do
know something of what I am undergoing, yes, and why. And
yet I do not always have this knowledge. . . .
You can help me only by knowing beyond a faintest shadow
of doubt that all is for my good and that I shall bear what I have
to willingly and that I do know when you give me love and it is
a healing thing to me." (p. 41 )
“. . . had it not been for the solace of writing to you I should
not have had strength to endure the suffering which I have vol-
untarily undertaken in order that I may the sooner be fit to help
others who are in such need as I have been — or worse." (Script)
* * *
22 M — “ Meslom finds me very ignorant of spiritual things but very
strong vitally. My immense activity needs an outlet and can be
utilized for our mutual good.” (p. 9)
22 G — “ Then when those great words came to us . . . and then
came the power and that splendid light and sense of goodness,
and yes, there was both peace and an urgent need of some kind
of outlet for the power I felt stirring in me.” (p. 32)
* * *
23 M — “ I could remember my past but could realize its best aspira-
tions and felt free and happy in the conscious strength given me
by the transcendent atmosphere of love. ... It is real, it is in-
telligent, it is exquisitely beautiful, it is exhilarating. ... In its
light and joy we know that the best is possible.” (pp. 28-29)
23 G — " You know, after all, just being in this high region is the
greatest good we can ask. It is better than anything I can write
for we both know once more that the highest is true.” (p. 25)
“ I feel another being, higher, finer, purer, nobler, with great
aspirations and full of faith and belief in all that is good, and
such a sense of exaltation ! Light, yes, all radiant light.” (p. 38)
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts.
595
24 M — “ My hesitations are not in thought but in the choice of words
to express new conditions,” (p. 13)
“ Our ideas and thoughts and desires are understood without
expression and received by those with whom we are in har-
mony.” (p. 17)
“ Here thoughts and ideas are interchanged by a sort of
automatic interpenetration of mind. Words and languages have
ceased to be necessary as a vehicle of communication.” (p. 29)
“ I am always trying to put into words the unspeakable. It
is so difficult ! ” (p. 31 )
24 G — " It is a matter of expressing myself, for I do think — but I
can’t seem to get my thoughts through to you. . . (Script)
“ This is a wordless realm that I am in. Wherever this is, I
do not think in words or communicate in words, I am sure of
that. ... I give you my thought direct and the words are all
your own and the reason for their simplicity and directness is
that the thought is of an order that must find such expression in
your mind. I cannot say how it might be expressed if it were
sent through a different mentality than yours.” (pp. 33-34)
. . do not dismiss it so carelessly. I am trying to put into
words what cannot be told. ... I do try to make you understand
— it is all so different. . . .” (p. 43)
* * •
25 M — “ Continuing our simile of harmony, we understand that each
thought and act of our life has put into motion waves. . . .
Before reaching perfection, peace and happiness, the sum of all
the discordant waves must be equalled by the harmonious waves.
. . . These waves may more correctly be compared with color
than with sound.” (pp. 112-113)
25 G — “ There are Beings who weave that color into such beautiful
harmonies. Music, you say! . . . All that you think is bad is
just the elements that have not been drawn into the harmony.
. . . Harmony is the law of being. There is no such thing as
energy without some purpose and that purpose is pure har-
mony or perfection — or whatever better word for it you can
find. . . .” (p. 42)
• * * *
26 M — “ The intense vibrations put in motion by a selfish act, when
596 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
coming into contact with the wave caused by an act of pure, un-
selfish love, change color. The color may be only slightly changed
but when, finally, enough waves of good have been met to purify
the wave of all discord, a pure radiant wave of luminous white is
reached whose vibrations are in accord with the centre of
harmony — ” (p. 114)
26 G — “ This is what I do. Say here is a black ugly thought. . . .
Now when this thought first comes into shape I see it so false I
am tempted to hate it, but when I can remember, I say, * You
poor thought, so utterly false ! Why, this is the truth ! ’ And
as I say these words that thought changes, grows pure, rosy,
melts — ” (p. 46)
* * *
27 M — “ All selfishness must be put aside on your part and our own.
... It is not necessary to go far afield to search for work to do.
The everyday exercise of thought and love towards all is suf-
ficient.” (p. 25)
27 G — “ You must be strong to know that you can still love me most
and yet love others and extend your love and help to all who will
come. . . . You will find that you cannot lose me by loving and
helping others." (p. 40)
• * •
28 M — “. . . you can help me most by being sure that this is a real
and tremendous experience and that we are not really separated.
Our natural bodies are separated but as far as I am concerned, I
have never been as near or so much in sympathy as Now.” (p. 21)
28 G — " Where is the miracle in the whole world to equal this one
little fact that you and I can be so close, so far apart ; so one, so
different ; so much to each other, so nothing that one can see or
touch — ? " (p. 43)
* * *
29 M — “ I am not yet wise enough to teach. I am acting as his
[Meslom’s] helper and trying to pass on to you what he teaches
me.” (p. 26)
29 G — “ Always they speak. Always the truth is there. All I can
do is to let it pass through me to you. ... It is there for all like
the sunlight. All I do is take it and pass it on to you." (p. 53)
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts.
597
30 M — “ For all there is ultimate salvation, or in other words, ulti-
mate realization of the transcendent love of God, but the way is
long and the trials are not limited to life on earth.” (p. 42)
30 G — “ These are the words I seem to hear. . . .
Poor, imperfect, struggling soul, you do indeed aspire too
high but you aspire truly. You shall some day reach all that now
seems so distant though the way may be long.” (p. 46)
* * *
31 M — “. . . the incidents which to an individual or a nation seem
stupendous, when seen in the light of eternal wisdom are impor-
tant only in so far as they affect the real or eternal lives of the
individuals concerned.” (p. 49)
31 G — “ You think such great spirits ought to have a chance to help
with the government of the world. Yes, if this earth is an end in
itself ; if it is not, then the government of it may be a part of its
function that is least important to the spirit.” (Script)
* * *
32 M — “ Here we are conscious of all the past and the present and as
much of the future as our development permits.” (p. 53)
32 G — “ I am F . . and I am more than that. All that he as-
pired to be, meant to be, was and shall be, I am." (p. 51 )
* * *
33 M — “ We are as fully conscious of this love as you are of the air
you breathe. . . . Each moment of fuller and more complete life
gives us a further degree of joy but also a clearer vision of the
truth.” (p. Ill)
33 G — “ I am here where I feel great and noble thoughts flow into
me as simply as breath flows into the body in the clear, pure
mountain air.” (p. 52)
* * *
34 M — “ I am content to seek the quiet paths with Meslom and
sometimes others who are like minds but whom I do not know as
yet. Here I find answered all my questions . . . answers that
convey absolute knowledge and conviction.” (p. 44)
34 G — “ I often hear these great voices and when they speak I learn
more than ever you dreamed. . . . Often I hear, ‘ Who are
you ? ’ . . . Then the same voice will say, * I am your present
598 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
helper. You may ask me such questions as you see fit. but do not
be distressed if all are not answered.’ " (p. 52)
* * *
35 M — “ This love is to us here clear and vivifying to an extent un-
dreamed on earth, not because it has become more powerful but
because we see with clearer vision the more we become har-
monious with this.” (p. 41)
35 G — “ Help me to live in this clear light. Here there is truth.
Here I can discriminate. What strange folly to live down below
in such clouds and fog! ” (p. 53)
* * *
36 M — " How describe the exaltation which possesses us when, after
a task faithfully accomplished, we are permitted a glimpse of
what is before us? ... It is like a state of ideal perfection. . .
and free, untrammeled intercourse with beings who permit us to
partake as fully as we are capable of with them in the perfect
knowledge for which we always longed. There are no more
vague longings and inarticulate aspirations. There is fulfill-
ment." (p. 80)
36 G — “ This is my idea of Heaven — pure human understand-
ing. . . .
All that I ever dreamed of good is true.
Love. Truth. Power. Beauty. Imagination.
Still wonder upon wonder open to the future of us as man
and woman. . . .
You think — Where does fulfillment come?
Oh ! Fulfillment is here — now !
All in me is content.” (p. 55)
* * *
37 M — “ The love which sustains the universe is all about us. It
rests with us to clear away all that clouds our perception of it
and all that interferes with our full and perfect consciousness
of it.” (p. 75)
37 G — “. . . Thou didst find the light that shines always, though so
long hidden by clouds and fog — miasma of doubt caused by man’s
own exhalations shutting out God’s sunlight.” (p. 59)
* * *
38 M — “ Meslom tells me that all are ultimately permitted to see and
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts.
599
progress. . . . Some time in every life there are moments of
aspiration for good and this divine spark of life ... is eternal
and inextinguishable.” (p. 32)
38 G — " Not one soul, however dark and heavy its vesture of
flesh, but is capable of one glimpse of the Divine. That is
enough. . . (p. 58)
* * *
39 M — " We gladly and consciously leave the glory of this radiant
day and return to the gloom where we face our worst selves and
others in the same sad condition.” (p. 38)
“ This voluntary return I make to darkness is not in the
nature of punishment. It is the inevitable result of clarified
vision. Seeing more and more clearly what is essential to prog-
ress, we long to share this knowledge with others still in the
darkness of ignorance.” (p. 40)
39 G — “ Master said I am the most pitiful disciple ... all in me is
pity for such suffering. ... You can’t see it. You see igno-
rance, lower than ignorance is perversity, unrighteous waste of
life. Love is given so abundantly. . . . O, perhaps I don’t see
the thing clearly myself. . . . Again that cloud thickens. . . .
All I wanted to say is that I see so much waste of quali-
ties worth saving. . . . All that is what fills me with such
pity ” (p. 61)
* * *
40 M — 44 We have no more fear, for we know that divine love is
carrying us ever forward — that we are understood and loved and
supported and purified and enlightened by it. . . .” (p. 60)
40 G — *' Not long have I seen as plainly as I seem to now how con-
stantly I am watched, tended, helped. Why do we ever disbelieve
in holy love? You see I must use the noblest words lest you
think it is not the divine spirit.” (p. 62)
In giving these extracts I have followed the sequence of my
book rather than of Miss McEvilly’s, for this reason. The mes-
sages from Meslom include various re-statements or repetitions in
slightly different form of the same idea, as is natural in didactic
writing ; w'hile the messages received by me gave a continuous,
almost day by day record of a single personal experience which,
600 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
however, in its development agrees perfectly with that described
in the other book.
The short passages brought together in this way do not give
any adequate idea of the extent of the resemblance in the sub-
stance of the two books. Generally speaking, the messages from
Meslom are much fuller than those received by me and in many
cases I could not extract from the pages of his teaching a single
sentence which would balance with one from my book, although
the idea presented might be the same. Conversely, as I have tried
to show, Meslom sometimes puts into a single sentence an idea
that was given to me as a living experience, detailed at length.
It is possible that resemblances of this sort make more impression
on me than they would on another, because during all my com-
municating I was aware of very much more than was written
down on my paper. Some of the time I was distinctly clair-
audient and so I have heard, with a sort of inner hearing, many
of the things which I find fully written out in Miss McEvilly’s
book, but which in my own case were not expressed in writing.
Dr. Prince has told me that I must be as frank in setting forth
divergences as resemblances — but there are very few real diverg-
ences to set forth. There are many things in each book which the
other does not touch upon, but most of these are akin in spirit to
the things which are expressed in both. There is rather more of
what might be called theology in Miss McEvilly’s book ; there is
decidedly more of the “ ups and downs ” of personal experience
in mine. Sometimes her book gives one phase or aspect of a sub-
ject— such, for instance, as methods of meditation or concentra-
tion— while my book gives a different aspect but one not strictly
divergent.
The name given to the Master whose words of wisdom I was
sometimes able to write down was not Meslom, nor did I ever
hear or write this name, and the intimations which I received of
a link with antiquity were of Egypt, not of India.
There is some appearance of a divergence on the subject of
reincarnation, which is both taken for granted and specifically
taught in my book. Meslom says, " The believers in reincarna-
tion— if limited to earth — deny the infinity of God,” and there are
a few passages which seem to argue against any reincarnation on
earth. L,. — the young man — in an early message says, “I am
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts.
601
permitted another life,” and he speaks many times of continued
evolution without specifying any locale for such evolution. Also
it is said, “lam trying to explain that there are many lives in one
eternal individual.” (This, to be sure, is capable of more than
one interpretation.) When I turn to the later book of “ Meslom’s
Messages to Woman,” I find these words: “ . . . the idea of
saying this or that kind of spirit has developed so far that its
return to earth is impossible is really a contradiction. . . . Our
return to earth does not in any way retard our development." (p.
71) And with these words the divergence which I thought I had
found ceases to exist.
As bearing on the idea of limiting reincarnation to the earth,
1 will quote from one of the messages received by me, following
an allusion to the destiny of man, — “ And by destiny I mean what
we commonly think of as his * future,’ whether in other lives to
come on earth or in some far-away planet or realm of space un-
known to you at present.” (p. 24)
Now, at last, I come to a real divergence. L. says, “ We move
about without effort. . . . Space and time do not exist," and else-
where there is mention of the “ annihilation ” of space and time.
In the messages received by me, while at first there seemed to
be little or no consciousness of time, there was jesting allusion to
“ your kind of time,” and after some progression had been made
there was the definite statement in regard to thoughts, — “ there is
transit in space I am sure ” — and of course the element of time
enters into all transit in space.
I may as well confess here that I do not think I could be made
to write the words, “ space and time do not exist ” — not even
under hypnosis! I see so clearly that wherever there is operation
of consciousness or manifestation of energy there are both time
and space — neither of these ideas being in the least incompatible
with infinity and eternity but rather contained within those ideas.
The idea of evolution — no matter where — implicates the idea
of succession in events, whether those events are physical, ether-
eal, mental, or whatever, — and this is time, though it may not be
time as measured by the rotation and revolution of this earth; and
the putting forth of energy of any kind certainly necessitates a
field wherein that energy moves — and this is space, the space
wherein the stellar universe lies sprinkled, with all its unseen,
602 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
half-guessed, little known forces. And I cannot see that we need
any other or different conception than this for the field of that
divine energy which we are taught to think of as all-inclusive
Love and which, if it is at all, surely enfolds us as well as those
who have gone beyond our sight, although our consciousness of
it may be obscured.
A man in deep sleep, or dream, or reverie, or profound con-
centration, may be quite unconscious of the passage of time, but
his unconsciousness does not affect the facts as perceived by one
who sits at his side, watch in hand, or who, at the window, looks
out on the wheeling stars. Again, if we can conceive a being in
an ethereal body capable of travelling with the speed of light (and
why not?) — it would perhaps seem to him that space and time
were not ; or at all events that is the impression he would most
likely convey to a mind still dwelling in its earthly tabernacle.
Yet it is the velocity of light — that is, its movement in time and
space — which is the very key to the utmost reaches of modem
science.
I cannot but think that most of the expressions found in
automatic writing in regard to time, space, eternity, etc., represent
efforts to overcome some restriction or inhibition in the mind of
the writer, or to get beyond prevailing earth-conceptions, rather
than statements to be taken literally and exactly.
If I may add a few more words of my own, I should like to
say that in comparing these two books I have sometimes felt the
riddle of personality growing deeper and stranger rather than the
reverse. Then a thought came glimmering into my mind and
presently I recalled Goethe’s line in Faust, “ Life is not light but
the refracted color,” and it seemed to me that something like this
could be said for personality. Here on earth we have the myriad
hues and tints and shades of human personalities, but in the realm
which is opened to us through automatic writing these seem to
be raised, purified, merged — first into a band of gloriously strong,
clear, definite colors, — where powerful individualities still retain
their separate characteristics, and finally into the one clear Light
which can be expressed to us only in terms of divine Love, uni-
versal and eternal.
Then it seems that this process can be reversed and, as if by
passing through a prism, that light is again resolved into its com-
Parallel Statements in Two Independent Scripts. 603
ponent colors or personalities. This is, of course, only an analogy
and must not be pressed too far. We often hear or read that
these things are beyond the reach of human intellect, but it is my
inmost conviction that our intellect is intended for just this very
purpose and that no experience which can come to man in this
mortal, embodied state, should be allowed to pass without the
utmost effort to understand it intellectually.
604 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
MEDIUMISTIC EXPERIMENTS WITH MRS.
BORDEN.
n.
By Mrs. “ Marian W. Spencer.”
WRITTEN FROM MEMORY ON FEBRUARY 19th. 1922.
It must have been at a sitting early in December, for the reason
that I had thought at the time it was quite possible I would soon have
a letter from my sister-in-law in England for Christmas, that the
following took place:
Mrs. Borden said she saw my husband standing on the deck of a
ship in mid-ocean, a great storm was going on, and the water washed
over the deck. My husband was holding a letter in his hand. She
asked me if I had had, or was expecting a letter from abroad. I
said it was quite probable that I should hear from England soon. I
asked her if he looked distressed or pleased, in hopes I might find out
whether the news would be pleasing or otherwise, and she said he
looked serious, but neither troubled nor pleased.
I did not hear from England during the holidays, as I had ex-
pected to do, but early in February of this year I received a letter
from my sister-in-law which had been written on November 22nd,
and probably arrived here early in December, but due to a wrong
address, it had been returned to her in England, and she then sent
it on to me.*
In this same connection I would refer to the sitting of January
20th, in which my husband seemed to say: “ Mimi ” [his sister]
" loves you and understands.” That pleased and comforted me very
much, as there is something which we both hoped Mimi would un-
derstand, but as for the “ loving me,” I was not so sure. When her
letter arrived, however, it was most affectionate, and well corrobo-
rated the words : ** Mimi loves you and understands.”
*Thc original envelope lies before me. It bears the English stamp and
postmark dated "22, Nov. 21,” is addressed to Mrs. Spencer at the wrong
street, and stamped “ Not found, N. Y,” and “ Non Trouve.”
Mcdiumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
605
To the best of my recollection, the following took place the week
preceding the sitting of January 25th. I was continually haunted by
the words : “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not
as the world giveth, give I unto you.” Not being very much of a
Bible student, I did not know where to look for this quotation, so I
asked a friend and she told me it was from the 14th chapter of John.
I opened my Bible to the book of John, and came first to chapter 15,
from which my eye traveled backward and fell first upon the 18th
verse of chapter 14, which reads : “ I will not leave you comfortless ;
I will come to you.” From there on I finished the chapter, finding
the quotation 1 sought in the 27th verse, but did not read or even
look at the first half of the chapter, being entirely satisfied with what
I had found. The words were so beautiful that I made up my mind
that I would ask Mrs. Borden to read that chapter next time she
came, as she is very fond of the Bible and likes to read it at the
beginning of a sitting.
On her next visit, the first thing she said to me was that she had
been dreaming of me. It seemed in her dream that I had invited
her to go to some sort of a social gathering with me, and that while
there I met so many people I knew, and talked with them, that she
thought to herself “ Mrs. Spencer does not need me, I will go home.”
She turned away and found she had to climb over a fence to reach
the car track. When she got over the fence, she found herself face
to face with my husband. He was dressed in a dark blue suit and a
derby hat (this was a very characteristic dress for him in any but
hot summer weather). He immediately said to her: “ In my Fath-
er’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told
you. I go to prepare a place for you.” It seemed in the dream, Mrs.
Borden made no response to him, but got on the car and went home.
I was a little bit interested in this narration, but could see little or
no significance in it, so changing the subject (as I supposed), I said :
" There is a chapter in the Bible I would like you to read aloud
before we begin,” and I opened the Bible at the 14th chapter of John
and handed it to her. To my very intense astonishment, in the sec-
ond verse were the very words my husband had seemed to say to her
in her dream ! We both thought it a remarkable coincidence, in
view of the fact that I had not read that part of the chapter at all,
but I cannot say that we attached any deep meaning to it at the time.
It is only fair to say that Mr. Spencer was not at all well versed
606 lournal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
in the Bible. He had been subjected, so he often said, to so much
forced prayer and Bible reading at a certain stage of his boyhood
that the whole subject became more or less repulsive to him. How-
ever, it might be that subconsciously, at least, he possessed quite a
good knowledge of the Scriptures, however unwillingly absorbed and
afterwards forgotten.
VISIT TO MRS. BORDEN MARCH 4th, 1922.
Mrs. Borden has been confined to the house for a number of
weeks, owing to the illness of her mother. For this reason I have
had no sittings with her since January 25th. When visiting her at
her home so many others would be present that nothing could be
done, and I never expected to receive a message when calling on her.
She informed me, however, that she had received a “ good scolding ”
from her invisible friends (unknown persons to me) for not going to
see me, and on March 4th when I called to see how her mother was,
only she, her mother and I were present. Mrs. Borden very soon
felt influences present, and I too was overcome by a trance-like con-
dition. During this time, she took a pencil and wrote down what
she heard clairaudiently, as follows :
“ I wish my dear wife had a daughter. It was too much to leave
her alone, but it was God’s will. Draw a little kitten." Mrs. B.
proceeded, as she was told, to draw a kitten. She was then told to
draw the sun, then the moon, and then she heard the word “ Minnie,"
repeated three times, and wrote it down as she heard it, “ Minnie.
Minnie, Minnie,” then “ Only mine.”
At this point, I emerged into full consciousness, and took down in
shorthand the things Mrs. Borden reported herself as seeing and
hearing. She said :
“ Who is Edith ? — I hear your husband say * Edith.’ ” I said I
did not know to whom the name referred, and after a pause, she
said : “ It comes very slowly sometimes, I get it now, it is Edith
Cavell. She appreciates that memorial. He nods his head and says
‘ She does.’ ” This refers to a memorial edition of the Imitation of
Christ which is an exact reproduction of the copy Edith Cavell pos-
sessed when she was executed, and which contains her marks and
notations. I had given a copy of this to Mrs. Borden some weeks
ago. I said : “ Does my husband know her ? ” She said, “ Yes, they
come from the same place, and he knows her there.” (They did both
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 607
come from England.) “ Thank God that my wish is realized, that it
is possible to get in touch by spirit communication. Baa Baa Black
Sheep ” (no meaning whatever).* Mrs. Borden then said she could
see my husband working as if in a laboratory and he had a panful
of some material like sand which he was crumbling and letting run
through his hands back into the pan. This had no significance for
me. A little later, she said she could see him sitting at his desk in
his office, with his glasses on, carrying on his business just as if he
had never passed from the earth and everything about him was
peaceful and harmonious. He had before him a big white pad or
tablet covered with raised letters such as the blind would use. This
is somewhat interesting in view of the fact that Mr. Stewart always
describes my husband's occupation as being working in beautiful
embossed leather with raised letters. This is something in which he
had little or no interest on earth, however. He was somewhat inter-
ested in printing and engraving, being an advertising man, and ap-
preciated any sort of beautiful printing or lettering, and this is the
only connection I can form in my mind with what these two psychics
seem to see. I am practically sure that Mrs. Borden did not know
what Mr. Stewart had said in this connection.
During the foregoing description of my husband in his office at
work, she also said he had a sheet of paper or a tablet before him on
which letters were indicated by small holes punched through the
paper, and below this sheet there were some colored carbons, and it
seemed to be some process of printing. It was so difficult to get her
idea that I did not write it down in shorthand, but she was very
much impressed with it, and described it at some length. She seemed
to feel it was a process of printing in colors, or a new invention for
the blind. In life he had great sympathy for the blind as any normal
person naturally has, but no especial interest.
Mrs. Borden: " I can see him sitting at a typewriter.” (“ Then
perhaps I shall have another letter from him?”) "No, his mind
seems to be on this work. He says * You have a lot of music in your
home, Mrs. Borden,’ apparently referring to her graphophone.
Now he stoops down and takes some index cards from the lower
* Unless it was an effort to get through the pet-name Lamb. This, how-
ever. is a hazardous conjecture and would be ridiculous except for the evi-
dence that most of the other names got expression.
608 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
drawer of his desk. The first card he takes is marked at the top
with the word : ‘ Religion.’ The next is * Soul Variations.’ A third
is headed ‘ Mid-day and Midnight.’ Another is * 3 o'clock and 6
o’clock.’ He puts all the other cards back and keeps these."
Mrs. Borden was so much impressed with the incident of the
index cards that she wrote down the words which appeared on them,
for hersel f to keep, but neither she nor I have been able to interpret
their meaning.
41 He seems to wrap a big blue veil around his face, and all around
him I see blue, darker than the sky. Then I hear Josie speak. She
says 4 Don’t worry, I am helping your husband to get into communi-
cation with the earth plane.’ ’’ Josie is our friend, Miss Fielding,
deceased, who is referred to in a previous sitting. 44 Mashia.” This
name suggests nothing to me. 41 A mixed up affair. Blue-blooded
people do not pay any attention to things like that. That woman who
annoys you is a little bit off in her head. Where are the sisters ? ”
This may possibly refer to a family affair involving sisters that had
caused me some little worry, and in which I had wondered if a cer-
tain woman were not perhaps a trifle unbalanced. 44 He says 4 Won-
derful, wonderful! 1 It is remarkable how things have changed. I
am annoyed by someone here who keeps calling Tommy, Tommy.’ ”
This last is curious, as I had lately written to some relatives who are
quite aged asking them to try to communicate with me after death,
and to signify their presence by saying the name of a relative who
died as an infant, which name is 44 Tommy." The persons I asked to
give me this name are still living. Mrs. Borden proceeded to repeat
what she heard as follows : 44 4 We are both miserable.’ There is a
machine he presses down with his foot and it has a long paper in it
like what you might see in a printing office. He looks at you and
says you should take olive oil. Those cheeks should be filled out
He makes a place in your cheek with his finger like a dimple."
When I had dimples and full cheeks my husband was very fond of
making a motion such as Mrs. Borden here described. She, of
course, did not know of this.*
* Note by Mrs. Spencer. — It may be understood that throughout my ac-
quaintance with this psychic, I have carefully guarded such details as I hoped
might be given me supernormally In any case where I told her anything of
my married life, I have made a careful mental note of the fact, and of what
I told her, so that I would be able to judge the value of what she might give
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 609
“ Was there an iron fence anywhere where you used to live, be-
cause I see an iron fence and three steps to go into a house. He
stands on the steps as if he had just come out of the house, and
looks across the street. Was there anything across the street he was
especially fond of ? ” There was an iron fence in front of the apart-
ment house where we lived, and a small number of steps, I believe
three, by which to enter it. Psychic does not know where we lived.
My husband was not especially fond of the place or the surroundings
except for the fact that it was his home. I have since learned, how-
ever, that a new apartment house is being built just opposite, which
would certainly engage his surprise and interest should he return.
“ I can see a hard shower he seems to be caught in, for he is running
and he has low shoes on and his collar is turned up." This does not
recall to me anything of any moment. He has certainly been caught
in summer showers when he had low shoes on, but this has not been
connected with anything very important in our lives. “ I hear the
name ‘Elsie’ — No, it is ‘Chelsea 77/ like a telephone number."
This last line suggests nothing to me.
MRS. BORDEN'S VISIT OF MAY 20th, 1922.
After two fruitless sittings when the psychic was undergoing
severe mental disturbance, she seemed to be in excellent condition on
the evening of May 20th.
She said she saw my husband, and he was clapping his hands
seemingly with pleasure at some changes I had made in my room.
This would not be his way of expressing pleasure ordinarily during
life. She said a tall figure was with him that looked like a monk.
The figure stood behind me, and as it turned she cried in some sur-
prise : “ Why, it is not a monk, now it turns and I see the face it is
the figure of Death, and he pats you on the shoulder, as if trying to
console you, and says : * I took him from you.1 ”
For some time past, I have been mentally and in writing asking
my husband to repeat some of the things we used to memorize to-
gether. This would consist chiefly of poetry. Four months ago,
during a sitting, I asked for something of this sort, but Mrs. Borden
me. Our conversations have been for the most part about her own affairs,
and our friendship is not one that would tempt me to reveal the little inti-
macies of my married life to her. In fact, I do not think she quite under-
stands the sort of life that was ours.
610 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
does not know that I have been making a special point of it ever
since. She now saw him sitting up in bed as if during his illness,
and heard him say he wanted me to read him some poetry. I im-
mediately thought of a favorite sonnet of his, found the book and
at once it fell open at the very place I wanted. The next morning I
tried the book again and found that it opened naturally to almost any
other place better than to this, as the pages between which the sonnet
occurs are stuck together a little at the top. The sonnet is not at all
a favorite of mine, and I have not read it since my husband's
change.* The fact that it opened of its own accord, so to speak, is in
itself remarkable. I read the sonnet and found in it a very poignant
and wholly unexpected application. It was not, however, one that
we had memorized. It is as follows :
Say over again, and yet once over again,
That thou dost love me. Though the word repeated
Should seem a "cuckoo-song" as thou dost treat it,
Remember, never to the hill or plain,
Valley or wood, without her cuckoo-strain,
Comes the fresh spring in all her green completed.
Beloved, I, amid the darkness greeted
By a doubtful spirit voice, ir» that doubt’s pain
Cry, “ Speak once more — thou lovest ! ” who can fear
Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?
Say thou dost love me, love me, love me — toll
The silver iterance! — only minding, Dear,
To love me also in silence xvith thy soul.
She saw him sitting in his own chair which she herself was occu-
pying, looking very sad, and at the same time, another self of his
stood behind her, a very powerful force, so strong and with such a
piercing look that she shrank and trembled. The one seemed to her
to be his memory of his earth self, and the other to be his present
reality, strong and happy. She said: “You know, your husband
likes me.” Later she saw him holding a large bird and stroking and
petting it. He never had such a pet, but once he woke from a dream
much distressed because he said he had gone up to stroke an owl that
he considered his pet, and the owl fell over as if dead and proved to
Fourteen months ago.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
611
be simply a stuffed bird. In his half-sleeping condition, he had used
the strange expression : “ I went up to stroke Hooty the Owl, as I
always do, and he was dead." Hooty the Owl only existed in the
bedtime stories of which he was very fond, and through which he
had become quite a nature lover. When Mrs. Borden saw him with
a large bird in his arms stroking and petting it, I asked her if it could
be an owl, and she said, yes, very well. Mrs. Borden did not know
anything about his affection for animals, his odd little dream, or
anything at all related in the above paragraph.
She saw him very plainly sitting at ease in a chair and eating an
apple. He never ate an apple in his life, according to his own state-
ment to me.
At the beginning of the sitting she got the names “ Charles ” or
“ Charlie,” followed immediately by “ Horace " [pseudonym]. Other
names followed which I could not place, but later in the evening, she
got the name “ Parker.” In life, two of his best friends were Charlie
Harpwell and Horace Cassidy. They are still living. He used to call
them “ Harpy ” and “ Cassidy ” respectively. The name “ Horace "
is constantly coming across. There were two gentlemen bearing this
name who were very close to him in life, but he did not call either
of them by the Christian name. Mrs. Borden does not know any-
thing regarding the two gentlemen named above. [The names given
are pseudonyms, carefully selected to serve the same effect.]
Mrs. Borden felt herself afflicted with a slight ailment in a part
of her body corresponding to the one in which my husband once had
the ailment. The moment I recognized it, her distress passed away.
She was ignorant of the facts here.
She saw ships all around me, and a man whom I could not recog-
nize placing baskets filled with something (groceries and supplies ap-
parently) all around me. This is meaningless to me.
She saw my husband working at something with big raised let-
ters that seemed to be embossed. Mr. Stewart has also told me he
was doing this sort of work, and I am almost sure Mrs. Borden does
not know this. She said at a later time that she did not know it, and
from her excited manner, I did not think it was a product of her
own memory.
Shortly afterward, she became very much excited, and said: “ Is
there a letter in a portfolio you did not see when you went through
his things? It seems to be a letter or a story or something he left
612 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
unfinished.” I said no. but she insisted : “ It is in that trunk over
there. Has that trunk got a drawer? It is in a drawer, a letter in a
portfolio, or something he was writing and did not finish. Has he
got a key ring with keys on it — he tells me it is right over there ” —
pointing to a bureau on which was a wooden box directly in line with
her pointing hand. I got up and opened the box which I thought, but
was by no means sure, contained the keys. There, in fact, was my
husband’s key-ring, with the keys on it exactly as he had left it. I
gave it to her, and after holding it a few seconds, she selected a key.
and said that was the key to the trunk, and for me to open it the next
day and see if there was such a letter or manuscript in the drawer.
The key she selected was the correct one, and the following day I
opened the trunk and in a drawer I found a folder marked “ James
Spencer — Personal.” Inside was correspondence pertaining to his
proposing a friend for membership in a club to which he belonged.
One or two of the letters were complete, but the last one was un-
finished, in fact, was simply a rough draft of a letter which he was
engaged in altering. I really knew of these letters and had saved
them in case the gentleman involved should ever feel an interest in
seeing them, but I did not think she could mean this until I looked at
them again, and it seemed then as if it was this that she had been
describing. I see nothing to be done about the matter now, so
imagine the whole thing was simply given as proof of my husband’s
presence. Certainly there was no way in which Mrs. Borden could
know of the contents of the trunk, or the location of the key-ring, or
which key belonged to the trunk. The trunk is always locked and
she has no way of knowing even that it contains drawers, although
from its shape this might be supposed.
During the sitting, I became lightly entranced, as is often the
case, and she heard the words : “ My dear little mother, Marian."
Nothing wonderful here, as she knows both the “ mother ” and the
“ Marian ” as applying to me. Then she heard “ I dearly love my
little kitten.” This is the pet-name again, but I believe the psychic
thinks it means me. Of course, he would not say he dearly loved
himself, but I think her misapprehension perhaps caused her to dis-
tort the message. Then she heard “ Boots, boots, boots,” which she
tells me is a quotation from one of Kipling’s poems. I do not know
the poem, and never heard of it before, and I doubt very much if my
husband knew it. If he did I do not see what meaning he would
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
613
wish to convey by quoting it. As a matter of fact, I believe this
quotation (which she often gives me) is from her own subconscious
mind and that she does not recognize it as such.
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN MAY 27th, 1922.
Preliminary Explanation: Mrs. Borden knows that Mr. Spencer
was deeply interested in public speaking, and feels that he would like
her to make a study of it.
For many months past, always while alone, I have been asking
mentally, vocally and in written requests, that Mr. Spencer repeat to
me, if possible, some of the selections he and I used to memorize
together, which consisted chiefly of poetry. On a few occasions, I
have thought he was trying to do this, as he has mentioned places
where we studied and practised the memory exercises ; and last week
he asked me to read him some poetry. On this occasion, the effort
seems to have been quite successful.
Mrs. Borden sees writing on face of wardrobe trunk after she
has read a few verses of “ In Memoriam ” aloud. The words are :
“ That is one thing I love — beautiful poetry. Beautiful words mean
so much to me. Expression is everything. Your moods and tenses,
do not neglect them. Periods and commas must be followed closely.”
This was very apt, as a criticism of the reading. “ Why don’t you
study deep breathing exercises, Helen? [Mrs. Borden], Watch me.
Ah-ah-ah-ah .” Here the psychic reproduces exactly a rather
peculiar exercise which my husband had used during his last two
years. She has given this before but not quite so definitely. She
does not know how extremely good this is. “ Watch me. That is
right. Marshal] your forces together. Do not neglect your reading.
Practise diligently and you will succeed. Patience brings its reward
in time. Papa Spencer.” (A term never used by him, but might
here have been used in jest as he was delivering a sort of lecture.)
Mrs. B. then saw him holding a big handful of roses of white and
a delicate pink. She hears him say : “ Heaven is my home now, but
you will always find me near you. Spirit forces are at work to bring
about certain conditions. Peace is my motto, and peace was your
motto too." (Not especially, unless the reference is to our domestic
relations.) “Watch out for drugs. Druggists are careless these
days.” (No apparent meaning here for me.)
614 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Here Mrs. Borden felt a Southern influence, and saw members
of her husband’s family who were southerners. She said : “ Go
away, we do not want you." Then she saw written on the trunk,
apparently by my husband : “ Welcome — them. Do not be selfish.
Lucy Borden is not well. She is grieving inwardly. Write her to
come back to New York for a while. James Spencer promises to
help you any time you need him.” Here sitter fell into a sleep-like or
trance-like condition, and Mrs. B. saw Mr. Spencer with his finger to
his lips, and heard — or saw written (I do not know which) : “ I can-
not give you a message while Mrs. Spencer is in a trance condition.
She is very near us. We do not want to break the silver cord.”
After I opened my eyes, Mrs. B. laughed for she heard Mr. Spencer
say: “ Smoke Piedmonts for a change.” We had been smoking other
kinds of cigarettes, but he had in life always smoked Piedmonts,
which she knew at this time. Here an abrupt change took place.
Mrs. B. saw a friend of mine, Mrs. S., talking to me, and said:
“ You are going to see Mrs. S. soon and she is going to tell you
about some wonderful medium she has met." Mrs. B. knew Mrs. S.
was away, but not that she had returned. Mrs. Borden knows Mrs.
S. and has "read” for her. I called on Mrs. S. a few days later
and the first thing she told me was an account of a very successful
sitting with a strange medium in Boston.
Next Mrs. B. saw Mr. Spencer apparently with cold cream
smeared around his eyes and around his mouth and nose. I cannot
imagine what this might mean unless it might be shaving soap. Then
she sees him making a speech, addressing an audience and making
gestures, and hears him say : “ Mortal man is, as Shakespeare said
in the ‘ Seven Ages of Man.’ Shakespeare is quite an idealist. He
has brought into the human conception thoughts and ideas of human
beings that otherwise would have been void. Pass but a moment,
spare but the time, even if it is only five minutes, in memory of that
great man, William Shakespeare.”
Here I asked Mrs. B. if she had been reading Shakespeare
lately. She said she had not done so for months. This being the
case, the above is splendidly good as an answer to my wish for
something we had memorized together, as the “ Seven Ages of
Man ” was one of the first we had learned, and since learning it, we
had had much fun paraphrasing it and quoting it on different oc-
casions. All the rest about Shakespeare is meaningless, and to my
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 615
mind, is simply used as a setting for the reference to the “ Seven
Ages.”
She then saw written “ The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ” and as
this contains many verses which we memorized together, I hoped for
some more evidential references. Mrs. B., of course, does not know
what it is I am desirous of getting through. She then said : “ Well
he must be wanting you to read a lot because I see: ‘ Mark Twain’s
works. Huckleberry Finn is a very humorous selection, an ideal
book for boys.’ ” (I doubt very much if my husband ever read this
book, although he did know some of Mark Twain’s works.) Mrs.
B. then saw written: “ Planchette. Patience is necessary. Yon ris-
ing moon that looks for us again — (This last, of course, is a
selection from the Rubaiyat, and a verse Mr. Spencer must have
read countless times, and although it is just preceding one that we
had memorized, we had not memorized this one. The words of this
verse, however, were so poignantly applicable to our present situation
as to make them very striking.) It was written very rapidly, and
Mrs. B. only repeated the last line, or that is all I caught : “ Through
this same garden, and for one in vain ! ”
Then Mrs. B. said : “ I see ' 12th Stanz.’ I don’t know what that
means.” I said that it seemed quite obvious to me that it meant the
12th stanza of the Rubaiyat, since he was quoting from that, and I
got up to look for my copy of the poem, but failed to find it. As this
is the most interesting part of the sitting, I will give the whole inci-
dent now. Mrs. B. advised me to look it up some other time, as of
course I was obliged to do under the circumstances. The next morn-
ing, still unable to find my copy, I looked at the one a friend has. It
was a Fitzgerald translation, and while the wording was quite differ-
ent from that of my own copy, I supposed that the verses would be
in the same order, and of practically the same substance. It was,
therefore, a gTeat disappointment to me to find that the twelfth stanza
was the one about “ Oh, take the cash and let the credit go, Nor heed
the rumble of a distant drum.” We had never especially noticed or
cared for this verse, and it had no significance in itself for me, for
my husband or for the present situation in which we find ourselves.
I decided that this test, at least, was a failure. Later in the day I
called on another friend and told her of my disappointment. She
said “ Let’s look it up in my copy, it might be different.” I de-
murred, as her book was packed down in the bottom of a trunk, but
616 Jourtuil of the American Society for Psychical Research.
she insisted, and after she had gone to some trouble to find the vol-
ume, what was my delight to find that her translation was identical
with my own, and that the twelfth stanza in this read:
"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
Ah, Wilderness were Paradise enowt”
How many, many times have we repeated this from memory to
each other, parodied it, joked and laughed over it. It was a part of
our lives, you might almost say! I thought this a most delightful
and successful test. 1 have never discussed the Rubaiyat with Mrs.
B., and did not know that she had ever read it, so naturally she could
not know that I knew it or that Mr. Spencer had ever looked at it.
Since my book is lost, she could never have seen it when she called
on me. Mr. Spencer liked the poem especially, but of late years it
has not greatly appealed to me, and that is the reason I know I have
not mentioned it to Mrs. B. Neither does she know, as before stated,
the sort of test I am trying to get through. The only thing that
might indicate this happened when she first mentioned the Rubaiyat
in this same sitting. I had said as if to my husband: “ Do you re-
member any of it?” and the quotation did not immediately come
through, but as will be noted did come after a few other discon-
nected matters had been mentioned.
Mrs. Borden next saw written: “Weeping is good at times, it
relieves the tired nerves." Then she says : “ He says he wants you
to paint. Paint my picture, paint it from memory.” “ Florida
Water perfume, sweet, sweet, sweet.” None of this has any ap-
parent meaning. Referring to some newly-enlarged photographs of
himself she hears him say : “ The pictures are nice, very artistic, your
idea was quite a good one. It is me, all right. Poor boy, he is all
alone now.” This caused me some distress, and he said to Mrs. B. :
“ It is not so much the way you say it, but the way you express it
Please be careful, my wife is extremely sensitive. Shall I say I am
happy here when my heart is there ? I shall not be satisfied until we
are united. Better a little honey with much sadness than no honey
at all." Here Mrs. B. and I had a little discussion on the strange-
ness of this last sentence, and she heard, as if in comment on our
conversation : “ The message is given in accurate form.” Then Mrs.
Mediunustic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 617
B. saw Mr. Spencer sitting in front of three big windows with soft
curtains, resting quietly and looking out. Mrs. B. said : “ He shows
me a peony just as it is bursting open. Now I get a Scotch influence,
and he shows me a thistle. He shows me a big fall of water like
Niagara Falls. Please write — Sonia Farrell.” None of this last
means anything to me.
This portion being transcribed several days after the sitting, I am
uncertain whether the following was heard clairaudiently or seen
written :
“Christ is real. He is just as you think he is: pure, sweet and
full of understanding. Jesus is my help and guide. Promise me not
tc worry, it won’t be very long — oh, promise me! Watching eyes
are hovering over you and guiding you and helping you. Peace be
with you. Promises are made but sometimes hard to keep. I shall
not try to do too much tonight. There are Catholic influences near.
It is hard for me to vibrate through the atmosphere on account of
their vibrations.” Mrs. B. then says on her own account: “ There is
a priest here.” Then hears (or sees) Mr. Spencer say: “Please,
please, please don’t get into a discussion." (This is very apt, as a
few minutes before Mrs. B.’s arrival, I had been discussing the
Roman Catholic religion with a lady who is not one herself but who
is somewhat in sympathy with their point of view, and a discussion
teas actually in progress when the doorbell rang to admit Mrs. B.
She then saw the name “ James Spencer ” written across the trunk
and then a large cross appeared in the same place. Then the words :
“ Nancy. Still, still, still.” (No meaning here for me.) “ Shall I
get you a position with another firm ? ” Some weeks ago, I had in
mind doing another class of work, but decided afterwards not to
make any change at present. Then Mrs. B. said: “ He is printing in
a kind of Japanese design. Big letters like Japanese letters (no
meaning) he says ‘ You need help sometimes, I will tell you what to
do.’ I see the word Washington — Washington Monument.” Just
previous to Mrs. B.’s visit, and before talking to the lady mentioned
above, I had been looking at the newspaper which gave a view of the
Washington Monument through the portals of the Lincoln Memorial.
I had pondered over a visit my husband and I had made to the
Capital and looking at the monument with him. Either Mrs. B. got
this impression from my mind, or he was with me when I looked at
the paper.
618 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
I relit the incense, and Mrs. B. heard : “ Oh, more incense."
Then saw a question mark written, and the following words : “ Are
you arranging my memoirs." I am trying to arrange a memorial for
him. Mrs. B. had a strange sensation as if she were lifting a tomb-
stone. Written again: “Can’t you keep away foreign influences.
They sometimes crowd in when we fain would have you all to our-
selves. Send this message to Mrs. S .” Here followed a mes-
sage from Mrs. S.’s husband in the spirit world given by Mr.
Spencer, after which he thanked Mrs. B. for taking it. I asked for a
message for another friend. Mrs. B. saw the word: “ Portchester.
(We had once spent a very happy summer there.) We can give
messages to those who will accept them. I want to help you all I
can. Tremble not.” Psychic gets up and gives me Mr. Spencer’s
picture to hold, and hears him say " Thank you verry much.” “ You
will hear my voice some day. You will hear it in your ear. You
hear a buzzing sound now (I did in one ear. I am not at all sug-
gestible— rather the reverse.) I am trying to clear away local con-
ditions. It is hard to reach you, you are so handicapped. Some little
difficulty in hearing.” (I always understood the physical senses
were not employed in clairaudience and clairvoyance.) " My dar-
ling Marian. My wife idolized me. I want her with me. Something
must be done. It cannot go on like this forever.” The last two
sentences are what I say to myself constantly. “ Next to Heaven I
love you best, best of all." I said : “ I am so glad you love Heaven
best.” “ It is June, dear. It means so much to us both. (Our mar-
riage was in June.) Mother, don’t grieve. Just smile and be brave.”
Then Mrs. B. hears something that sounds like “ Kandy Andy,"
which has no significance for me.*
She sees my husband’s signature, made very rapidly.
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN OF JUNE 3rd, 1922.
Preliminary Explanation: In this sitting there is so much that is
obscure, if not absolutely meaningless, that I shall probably leave
some of that out, as the labor is too great in writing every word.
* It occurred to me that "Kandy Andy" might be meant for "Handy
Andy,” a folk-term the meaning of which is generally understood. On in-
quiry of Mrs. Spencer it was learned that her husband was ingenious and
liked to do small jobs, fixing things about the house
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
619
Most of it I shall give, and in noting the few good points, it will be
borne in mind that there was much that was not good also.
The first thing Mrs. B. said on entering the room was : “ What is
it he wants me to polish? — I hear him say he wants me to polish
something, and I don’t know what it is.” She looked all around the
room, and I begged him to tell me what he wanted polished, but
nothing developed. This, however, was very good, as my husband
had a very particular hobby for polishing things. He could not en-
dure a bit of brass or nickel in the house that did not shine like new.
He kept the kitchen and bathroom faucets exquisitely clean himself,
and was always bringing home some new cleanser or polisher to
experiment with. Such as the “ Bright Boy ” mentioned in a pre-
vious sitting. For some reason, Mr. Spencer was rather ashamed of
this hobby, and I used to have some fun joking him about it — we
always used to say that when he went to Heaven God would give
him the task of keeping the stars bright. All this was very intimate,
and as he did not like people to know of his hobby, I am certain that
I never have mentioned it to Mrs. B.
Next, referring to the incense, she heard him say: “ It is pun-
gent.” She saw him go and look intently at the pictures of my
parents, and then she heard : " It will be springtime in your heart
soon again, sweetheart.”
The word “ Harvard ” came, meaning nothing to me. Then,
slowly, and word by word, Mrs. B. heard and repeated to me the
following: “ Heaven is where the eagle soars with outspread wings,
peacefully wending its way, homeward bound.” After she had re-
peated this, Mr. Spencer nodded his head to her, and said 44 That's
right.” Then “ Heavenward the sparrow flies.” More was given
but so quickly that Mrs. B. lost the words, but got the general im-
pression, which was that the sparrow did not want to go into those
higher realms where the eagle makes his home, yet that he made his
way thither none the less. If I could assure myself that nothing in
Mrs. B.’s reading could have suggested this, I would feel it had a
very beautiful and subtle meaning, as he did not wish to die. Then
came a reference to the “ Village Blacksmith ” which I do not think
my husband even knew. Mrs. B. said : 44 He is so English tonight.
He is posing just like an Englishman.” Although English himself,
he often exaggerated his manner as a burlesque of his countrymen.
Mrs. B. said: “I hear him say 4 Boots, Boots, Boots.’ [Obscure.]
620 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Have you been reading poetry lately, where do I get all this poetry ?
' In Memoriam ’ he said, 32nd Stanza ’ (looked this up, but it had
no special meaning). Place a glass of water on your dresser at night.
Pleasant dreams will follow. I shall speak to you in the subliminal.”
Followed references to Trilby, Thackeray and Williams, and the quo-
tation “ Go to the ant, thou sluggard, and consider its ways.” No
significance. Then the name he often says “ Petsy,” or something
like it, which I think is a familiar name trying to come through, but
just missing it, and then he says to Mrs. B.: “ You don’t guess it.”
References to Longfellow’s poems which have no meaning. He
looks in the mirror, and says: “ Both of them are here.” She says:
“ He is looking at everything in the room, and asks where are the
pictures ? ” I have pictures in my room, but not the ones we had at
home which he loved. [This is not evidential, as the psychic would
know that my room is rented furnished.] Mrs. B. next saw him
standing before his own pictures and looking at them, and heard him
say : “ I am a very nice looking boy — a very pleasant looking fellow
— rather saucy!” This last is extremely good. "Rather saucy"
was high praise from my husband and a very characteristic expres-
sion. I never heard anyone but him say that when admiring a thing.
If I had a new hat or dress that he liked, he would say it was “ rather
saucy.” I think this meant something different from “ pretty." it
meant something more like the French “chic.” Mrs. B. did not
know he ever said this, and in fact from the way she repeated it I
imagine that she thought it meant that he in his pictures looked a little
bit impudent, which he does not. It carried a very different mean-
ing to me. His pictures are quite successful, and merit the praise he
would intend by the use of this expression.
Heard by Mrs. B. : “ I believe I will. * Life is real, life is earnest,
and the grave is not its goal, dust thou art, to dust retumest was not
spoken of the soul. Lives of great men all remind us we can make
our lives sublime, and departing, leave behind us footprints on the
sands of time.’ Spread that gospel everywhere you go, gather your
forces together, don't forget. Cheer up those who are less fortunate
than yourself. Remember you are standing on the threshold of the
great divide. It is interesting to tarry a little while longer where
senses are moved by materialistic means. Beyond the Great Divide
it is a wonderful country. Bye and bye you may enter the forbidden
land, but ere you wander too far, remember these words that Wil-
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
621
liam Shakespeare said — choose your friends, ' the pen is mightier
than the sword.’ Plant deep, little grains of big ideas. Noble are
thy thoughts. Act accordingly.”
Comment on foregoing paragraph: I do not think my husband
knew the “ Psalm of Life ” from which he seems to quote here, but
he may have known it slightly. The latter part of the paragraph
might refer to the fact that I have recently been trying to write a
little bit again. Mrs. B. did not know this, but I told her afterwards.
Mrs. B. saw him with his finger on his lip, looking as if he were
trying to remember something. I had asked him to try to give me
some verses of Browning this time that we had memorized together,
but Mrs. B. did not know this. She was moved to pick up a volume
of Tennyson, however, and opened it at a picture of an angel stand-
ing with his finger to his lips as she had just described my husband.
She had not seen this picture in this book before, and the coincidence
was very striking. Then, written on the trunk, she saw “ Page 128
in a big, dark green book of poems.” Have not been able to locate
this.
Written on trunk: “St. John 1st and 3rd Chapters.” Mrs. B.
says : “ He underlines that.” “ The apostle’s Creed, place not men-
tioned anywhere else." (In looking up the foregoing, I found a very
good meaning in the two chapters of John, but nothing applicable in
the Creed, no place mentioned.) Then followed: “Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyam. The Veil. A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and
thou, beside me.” (This is the verse to which he had made refer-
ence in the previous sitting. I had not told Mrs. B. what the verse
was, and unless she had looked it up in a translation identical with
mine, she had no means of knowing, and this will have been very
good. I do not think she did look it up, as I told her the whole
incident after the sitting was over, atjd she seemed very much sur-
prised. She saw written “ Enoch Arden. Get busy.” She had
been looking at the poem mentioned, and as it has no significance for
me of any sort, I think it must have been the result of her own
mental impression of it. “ Get busy ” of course might mean almost
anything. She said : “ He says there is a message in each of them
(». e., in each of the references given) for yourself. It may be a
little word, but when you come to it, you will have an icy feeling.”
When I did find something significant in the Bible references, I did
not have an icy feeling. I was much pleased with the attempts my
622 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
husband was apparently making to comply with my request for quo-
tations, and said to him, as it were : “ What are you for doing all
this? What would I call you if you were living?" I hoped to get
a familiar answer, such as “ A clever boy,” but all she heard was —
doubtless with humorous intent, although very uncharacteristic: “A
young watermelon 1 ”
After this came a strange vision. Mr. Spencer seemed to Mrs.
Borden to be standing behind her and looking down into her head,
which seemed to be a bowl of crystal. The vision concerns Russia.
It is too long to give here, and has no bearing on the matter in
hand, e., the establishing of my husband’s identity. A message
afterwards came through my husband from a friend of Mrs. Bor-
den’s for herself, on whose merit I am unable to pass.
Towards the end of the sitting psychic saw Mr. Spencer go to
the typewriter and write one word which mystified us very much, it
was the word “ Pimple,’’ nothing more. We talked over what this
might mean without much success, and in the middle of it, the psychic
smiled, for she had seen him make a big “ D ” over the “ P,” which
made the word “ Dimple." He then wrote “ What shall I tell you ? ”
I said “ Are you happy? ” “ Yes, very happy. Practice makes per-
fect ” — this last evidently referring to his typing. He wrote : “ Blue-
eyed Dimply Darling." All these words would apply to him, but I
never called him “ Dimply," although he did have dimples, of which
psychic was not aware. Then came : “ Mother, tell me, how long
must I wait to see you ? ”
Mrs. Rorden then seemed to see the Statue of Liberty brilliantly
illuminated, and unless this has some obscure symbolical meaning, 1
do not know what it signifies. I was wearing a chain of my hus-
band’s around my neck. She saw written below it “ Petty.” I often
called him “ Pitty " and “ Pettit.” Then she saw drawn right across
my chest under the chain a large cat. That was followed by the
word “ Me." It is well known by now to anyone who has read these
reports that a cat or kitten would mean himself, but psychic is still
totally ignorant of this. Mrs. Borden said : “ He fastens the cat
right to the chain. He draws a heart. He shows me a picture of
you (sitter) chasing a little chicken with your dress held out." I
have always had a foolish fear of chickens, and would shoo them
away if they came too near, but this did not apply to very small
chicks, only their mothers. However, I do not believe the interpreta-
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
623
tion lies here, for “ chicken ” was another of the pet-names he seems
to be always trying to give me through Mrs. Borden, and I am of the
opinion that it was given to indicate this. At this point, the psychic
and I had a little conversation, and I told her she had once given me
a name the first part of which was a word, then other words came,
and the last part was a drawing. I asked her if she knew what the
name was. She said she did not. Then she said : “ All the time we
are talking I hear ‘ Minnie-Meow, Minnie-Meow.’ ” This will be
recognized as the name in question " Minnie-cat,” given in another
form.
After this, she seemed to see an opossum also on my chain. The
meaning of this is very questionable. It might refer to his love of
sleep and frequent need of it, but as he was a very wide-awake per-
son when not actually asleep, I doubt very much if any connection
was intended here.
SITTING OF JUNE 10th, 1922, WITH MRS. BORDEN.
Preliminary explanation: This sitting was not very good, due
largely, I believe, to the fact that I was quite ill, in fact, suffering
severe pain from indigestion most of the time. Still, it produced
some interesting points.
Three times in my life I have suffered excruciating pain in one of
my feet. It seems that the bones get out of place somehow, and
press on a nerve. If this takes place when I am in company and
cannot remove my shoe, and I have to put up with it for a long time,
the pain is extremely severe when at last I do take my shoe off. As
stated above, this has only occurred three times during my life. The
third time was Friday night, the night preceding the sitting. The pain
had lasted about half an hour after my coming in from an evening
of great discomfort, and I had remembered the other two occasions,
on both of which my husband was with me, and the suffering made
me realize his absence more than usual. Although there seems to be
nothing to do for this pain, my husband used to try rubbing and
massaging the foot. The illness from which I was suffering on Sat-
urday night when Mrs. B. was there was in no way related to my
feet, and “ something ” had kept me from mentioning the trouble of
the night before to anyone at all. No one knew of it but myself, and
when Mrs. B. came my feet were not troubling me at all in any way.
After some agreeable, but quite non-evidential things, such as the
624 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
mention of flowers and angels, etc., Mrs. B. suddenly turned to me
and said : " Have your feet been tired, because I can see your hus-
band on his knees massaging your foot.” Not satisfied to let well
enough alone. I asked which foot it was, and she hesitated, and said
he seemed to do one at a time, first one and then the other. Of
course, the pain I had was only in one foot, and I believe this was
really the picture she saw. Mrs. B. continued :
“ He is anxious concerning your condition, you are tired or ex-
hausted." (This was obvious.) “ He shows me a key-ring, a round
key-ring." (He had all sorts during his lifetime, but the one I have
now of his is not round.) “ 1 hear him say * tomorrow night’ ”
(Nothing of any importance occurred the following night.) “ He
seems to have a little animal in his hands that he is putting up to
your face. It might be a kitten. He shows me a funny kewpie doll,
as if he had been somewhere for pleasure and won it, because he is
in a palm beach suit.” (Both the kitten and the kewpie mean a
great deal, and would have a big place in our lives.) Then came
mention of seeing a big flag and myself dressed as a nurse, which I
never have been, and some names that meant nothing to me. She
mentioned different flowers and said my husband seemed to be listen-
ing to a radio machine. After a number of such unevidential mat-
ters, she turned to a tabouret near her and said : “ Did he used to
have a tall glass here with some kind of a cold drink in it, like
lemonade or something of that sort? It is a cold drink, and I see
him turning to reach it.” She was sitting in his chair, and I do not
suppose he ever sat in that chair an hour either in winter or summer
without a tall iced-tea glass filled with some cold drink within reach
on the tabouret. It was sometimes bevo, sometimes lemonade, some-
times iced tea, but more often grape juice. I am certain of not
having mentioned this to Mrs. B., as it is such a small detail that I
have not even thought of it myself, and nothing has occurred when
we were together to remind me of it. I have only recently used the
chair and tabouret in my room. Up to the middle of May they have
been in storage.
Now comes an interesting development. During the afternoon I
had been talking with Dr. Prince about a previous sitting containing
references to the Rubaiyat, and from that we had started to recall the
poem, and pieced out a good deal of it together, one of us remember-
ing what the other did not. At the time I had felt quite strongly that
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 625
Mr. Spencer was present and was following what we said with in-
terest. This being only a “ feeling ” I said nothing about it, natu-
rally, to Dr. Prince. However, at this point in the evening Mrs. B.
referred to the poem again and said she heard Mr. Spencer repeating
parts of it — she could only get bits of each verse, suggesting the rest,
and she and I — or Mr. Spencer and I ( ?) — pieced out several verses
together just as Dr. Prince and I had been doing in the afternoon.
The verses Mrs. B. referred to were as follows :
Mrs. B. : “ Something about the veil — the veil between.”
Mrs. S. : “ When you and I behind the veil are passed, oh but the
long, long time the world will last.”
Mrs. B. : “ Something about me and thee."
Mrs. S. : “ A little talk there was of me and thee, and then — no more
of thee and me.”
Mrs. B. : “ A jug of wine ” —
Mrs. S. : “ A loaf of breads a jug of wine, and thou, beside me sing-
ing in the wilderness."
Mrs. B.: " I hear him say something about June and the rose.”
Mrs. S.: "And ah, that June should perish with the rose, that
Youth’s sweet scented manuscript should close.”
Mrs. B. : “ Now he speaks about the potter’s clay ” —
I must have been feeling pretty badly because I did not finish this,
just recalled in my own mind the verses referring to the potter and
the clay.
Mrs. B. : “ The bird of time is on the wing,” suggesting another
verse, and yet another in “ Something about the rose of yester-
day.” “ He says you loved this [poem] , did you use to read it
together ? ”
Mrs. S. : “ Yes.”
We did often read it together, and he liked it better than I did,
although we both admired and cared for it, especially several years
ago, and less of late.
Mrs. B. : “ Yon rising moon that looks for us again.”
The delightful part of the above is that, with the exception of the
verse about the “ loaf of bread, the jug of wine, and thou,” and the
one about “ Yon rising moon,” not one is the same as the ones Dr.
Prince and I went over together in the afternoon I Does that bear
626 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the stamp of simple mind reading, or was my husband filling in
what he had noticed that Dr. Prince and I had omitted ? *
On questioning Mrs. B. regarding her familiarity with this poem
she told me that one of her beaux gave her the volume before she
was married, about 15 years ago, that he used to read it to her then
and she does not remember having looked at it since, certainly not
recently. She seems to have a very vague acquaintance with it, and
I do not believe could repeat one verse of it from her own memory'.
This seems to account for her not being able to grasp the whole of
what she saw or heard, as it went too quickly, and her own knowl-
edge of it did not come to her aid, therefore she could only give me
a few words of each verse here and there.
Then she got the word “ Egypt,” meaning nothing to me, and she
asked “ Have you got books tied up in a package? " I have, books
of his. The word “ Polly,” suggesting nothing to me. Lastly :
“ He says : ‘ Oh, Marian, when will you learn I am still with
you?' ”
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN OF AUGUST 3rd, 1922.
This was the first sitting I had with Mrs. Borden after having
visited Mrs. Chenoweth in Boston. Mrs. Borden did not know I had
had the Boston sitting. The first thing she said was :
“ I can see your husband rubbing his fingers as if they were cold,
he brings me in touch with a winter condition.” This motion was
given me by Mrs. Chenoweth to indicate that he loved and had an
open fire. (We did not have an open fire, though one was a part of
his plan for the future.)
There is a small empty space in my room where I used to keep a
table, but I have lately moved the table. Psychic looked at this space,
and said : “ Did you have a plain little book-case with about four
shelves ? because I want to take it and put it in that space.” We did
have just such a book-case, one that was made for my husband under
his special instructions, and he was particularly fond of it. It had
* Mrs. Spencer reported this sitting to me promptly so that I was able to
endorse what she says about the verses we " pieced out” The two which
duplicated those referred to in the sitting, those with the lines “A loaf of
bread, a jug of wine and Thou,” and ” Yon rising moon that looks for us in
vain," had been referred to before in the sitting of May 27th, and this may
have been the reason why we recited the complete stanzas.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
627
four shelves and was extremely plain, in fact, scarcely more than a
magazine rack, but it was nice looking and very useful. I have dis-
posed of it, and psychic never either saw it or heard of it. She then
said something which to her seemed strange and without meaning:
“ He says, ‘ Next time, bring some pictures please.’ " When I went
to Boston I hesitated a long time as to whether I should take the
triple case of photographs I have of my husband with me or not, and
finally decided in the negative. There is a possibility that he wanted
me to bring them next time, as for all we know to the contrary,
such things may help them to come. I did not mention this to
psychic. It seems rather far-fetched.
Next came the name “ Ralph.” I know no one of this name.
Then my husband asked Mrs. Borden to place her hands on the
typewriter and take a letter. She sat near the machine, and saw the
following written : “ Darling Marian : Mine eyes are thine to use.
You should not be embarrassed if I cast a spell over you any time.
My gifts are few, but you are rather fortunate in having a function
which is not quite clear to you yet, but a little patience will bring
about gratifying results.* Don’t cry over me, dear, I am happy.
You know how I suffered when I was there on the earth plane. It
was not possible for me to get well. I could not pull through that
awful condition. It was a brave battle I put up, nevertheless. You
were my pet. (He never called me this.) t Will you help me to
become stronger by being calm, peaceful and have happy, beautiful
thoughts in your mind all the time. Try to be in tune with nature.
Join a good psychic class.” The last few lines I cannot help feeling
are from Mrs. Borden’s own recent impressions received from a
mental healer whom she has been in contact with. She heard the
name “ Williams,” which has no significance for me, then said :
* No one can tell what was the particular reference. But it is interesting
that later, before I had read this passage, I thought I discerned a certain
ability on the part of Mrs. Spencer which might be cultivated to the advantage
of psychical research, and resolved to give her practice in developing it. The
task I set her first was one particularly demanding patience and persistence.
The “ function ” which I thought I discerned was certainly not clear to her
at the time of the sitting, and perhaps not now.
f Nor does he say he called her this. It is a statement of fact, eminently
justified by the facts and illustrated by his pet-names for her. In fact the
term would be suitable to each.
628 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
“ He shows me a gas jet burning, and says : * Send me a little baby
kiss.’ He is whispering something in your ear.” We used some-
times to pretend to bend down very close to whisper in each other’s
ears, and imprint a small hurried kiss on the ear under the pretense
of whispering. This took place only when we were likely to be
observed, which possibly the light of the burning gas symbolizes.
Then once more, out of such a number of times, came the name
“ Waite.” I do not know anyone named “ Waite,” and cannot
understand the persistency with which this comes through. If it
were just some submerged memory of Mrs. B.’s, why does she
keep mentioning it when I tell her it means nothing to me? She
really appears to get it psychically, and I cannot account for its
constant recurrence.
“ He goes to the typewriter and writes on yellow paper: ' Prac-
tice what you preach. June — ’ (a long pause here) 20th, 1903.”
Psychic gave this date very slowly and wonderingly, and asked me
if 1903 meant anything to me. I said it did not, and she puzzled over
it quite a little. Finally I said — “ Are you sure it is a 3, might it
not be an 8? " As I spoke she saw my husband (so she said) write
an 8 over the 3 in an impatient manner as if annoyed with her for
making a mistake. Under this he wrote the words : “ Marriage.”
“Death.” Psychic knows I was married in June, and must know
approximately the year, that is I was married within a year or two
of herself and she knows this. That would not account for her
taking the year to be 1903, as that is five years out of the way. I do
not think I ever mentioned the date of my marriage as the 20th to
her, but cannot be sure of this, as she once wrote me a letter on that
date and it contained what seemed to be a message from my hus-
band, so it is quite possible that I told her at the time it was my anni-
versary. So all the apparent evidence in the above is pretty well
spoiled, and yet for all that I fully believe in my own mind that it
was a real message given as a test by my husband. I cannot, of
course, expect anyone else to think so. Next to this, Mrs. Borden
saw written : “ Don’t tell Mrs. Borden any dates or any numbers
unless she tells you first. Prosperity be thine. January 11th. May
God be with you until we meet again. There is a wonderful oppor-
tunity coming to you. Only Mother knows the meaning of this.” I
can guess, but my guess would be that this is a prediction.
“ Murmuring brooks, shady dells, peaceful avenues of thought.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
629
Penny.” He used often to say " Penny,” meaning “ A Penny for
your thoughts.” “ Pansies.* Dot.” I do not get any connection
here.
The psychic then said she saw a doctor in the room, and described
him as a man of 38 or 40, tall and slender, rather nice looking, and
it seemed he would take great interest in me from a psychic point
of view.
Curiously enough, I had an appointment to be examined in my
room the next day by a doctor I had never seen. He did look very
much as she described, but having found my heart, lungs, etc., quite
sound, he took no interest in me whatever. Psychic did not know I
contemplated seeing a doctor for any purpose. Yet a day or two
later, another doctor was called to my room to take charge of a case
of obsession, the subject of which had gotten out of my control.
There may be the “psychic” connection, but this doctor was of
entirely different appearance.
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN AUGUST 11th, 1922.
Just previous to this sitting I had been arranging reports of Mrs.
Borden’s work with me for the Society for Psychical Research, a fact
of which she was not aware. I had undergone a good deal of mental
distress in my uncertainty as to whether or not it would be pleasing
to my husband to have so intimate a story published. The night
before this visit of Mrs. Borden's, I had cried out loud in my anxiety,
saying : " Oh, James, tell me if it is all right to do itl ”
The first thing Mrs. Borden saw was my husband standing near
me holding some papers in his hand, and looking at them carefully.
He turned over page after page, until he came to the 4th and there
near the foot of the page he seemed to find something that puzzled
him, and he said it was not quite right. I asked the psychic what
the papers looked like because I had several manuscripts on hand in
* After comparison with other passages where similar words occur to-
gether, it seems to me less probable that “ Penny ’’ is an allusion to his fre-
quent expression in life than that it was the thwarted attempt to get some
word expressed. In that case “ Pansies " would be another attempt, very
likely also not what was intended. It would be rash to urge that “ Pinchie "
was the word aimed at, but, since nearly all other major pet-names had been
recognizably expressed, it is not improbable that a vain attempt was made
here to convey another.
630 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
my desk drawer. I said, having one particular one in mind : “ Is
there a cover on them? ” She said : “ No, there are clips at the top —
have you got something that is unfinished ? ” I said I had, drawing
out the manuscript of the reports of her work, which were then un-
finished and clipped together at the top with several clips, one for
each of several reports. “ Does it look like this ? ” I asked, and she
said “ Yes, that is it.” It may be remarked that this was the only one
of the manuscripts I had on hand which had clips at the top and
which was in an unfinished state. I asked her if my husband seemed
pleased or displeased with what he read, and she said : “ Oh, he is
pleased, his face is all smiling and happy, but there is something he
thinks ought to be changed on the fourth page, it looks like a sort of
postscript or something added on.” She did not know what the
manuscript contained. I felt some reassurance from her description
of his manner that my husband was not displeased with what I had
been doing. I looked vainly, however, for the place where some-
thing seemed to be wrong. I read the part indicated, and could not
find that it was incorrect.*
Then psychic saw a letter in the typewriter, which started out
“ Longest Article, Article 1. Instantaneous. We, the party of the
first part, beg to state that the people themselves are to blame for
negligence and carelessness. I presume it will be advisable to take
up the matter with someone else. Shallow minded people are unfair
in their statements regarding Providence.” I have no idea what all
this means. Psychic then looked at a picture of kittens I have, and
said : “ He says, ‘ Stroke that kitty for me.' ” He would have called
it something else, I think. She hears him say. “ Work with a will
and determination to succeed. Do not be discouraged, it is not an
easy thing, the task that you have undertaken.” This may refer to
my attempts to secure communication with him. " Pearls are price-
less, beauty does not amount to anything."
From this point on, the communications consist mostly of moral
principles and precepts and advice chiefly for the psychic herself, and
much matter that is obviously subconscious, reflecting as it does im-
pressions I know her to have received normally in her connection
* It would not be certain what section in clips was referred to, and there
might be something wrong, though Mrs. Spencer did not note it. This is •
possibility, though, of course, it cannot be urged as a fact.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
631
with the mental healer I mentioned before, and other incidents.
Only one other thing came which seemed as if it might be from my
husband. She said : “ He draws a picture of a cat.” Early in the
evening, when the influence seemed at its strongest an interesting
incident occurred. I have spoken before of the blue lights I often see
which I believe to be of supernormal origin. Mrs. Borden said at
one time during the evening : ” I can see him so plainly, standing just
behind you.” She sat opposite me, and an instant or two after she
said this, my eye was caught by a spot of beautiful violet light di-
rectly in front of me, and at the psychic’s left. For once this seemed
to be exactly in front of my eye, and I gazed quite fixedly at it, but
said nothing to Mrs. Borden of what I saw. It remained longer than
they usually do, several seconds in fact, and while I was looking,
Mrs. Borden said : “ Now he is standing right here by me,” indicating
the exact spot in which I was seeing the violet light. Even if Mrs.
Borden glanced in my direction, my gaze would not necessarily imply
more than that I was thinking deeply, nor could she tell by it at what
distance I saw something, even though she guessed that I saw any-
thing at all.
SITTING WITH MRS. BORDEN AUGUST 26th, 1922.
Mrs. Borden said she could see my husband standing near his
trunk with an open book in his hand and could hear him say:
"Where are you, where are you, my darling little wife? — To (or
two, I cannot decide which) things you see, your eyes are clear, your
love is here with me. We understand, we hold your hand, across the
Great Divide. It is not true you’re feeling blue, I am standing there
with you. That’s all.” This is very funny and curious. My hus-
band had little or no understanding of poetry, in fact, it rather an-
noyed him “ For why ” he would say, “ do they chop it up into short
lines?” Much we argued and discussed the reasonableness, use and
beauty of poetry, and in latter years he grew to appreciate it and
ceased to worry about the shortness of the lines. Oddly enough, he
could read it beautifully, having a delightful voice that lent itself to
the interpretation of poetry amazingly well. Because I loved it so,
and it was such a part of my life, he sometimes, on very special oc-
casions such as my birthday, essayed to write me some verses. They
were not very good poetry, but so sincere and dear and funny that 1
loved them. The above is a very good example of what he could do.
632 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Psychic knows nothing of this phase of our lives, in fact, no one in
the world does up to this writing. Mrs. Borden said he smiled and
said : “ Sweetheart, I did that for you. You appreciate my progress,
don’t you? " Mrs. Borden could hear actual music going on outside,
for the window was open. It distracted her, and seemed to her to
distract him. She said he made a motion as if he were leading them,
and that is very characteristic of him. He loved grandeur in music,
and frequently gesticulated as if leading an orchestra when he heard
it, that is, if he was unobserved by the public, as when we played the
graphophone, or when a band went by outside. She said : “ He feels
jolly and full of life.” He imitated her smoking. She mentioned
certain dental work which she said he showed her towards the back
where it was not ordinarily seen, and I could not check this up be-
cause I do not remember it accurately. Something had been done, I
know, but I could not say positively what it was.
Conditions were not very good on this occasion. The night was
warm, the windows open perforce, and an odor of naphthaline was
very strong in the room. Here the psychic saw him put a handker-
chief to his mouth and take away a discharge of saliva, rolling the
handkerchief as he did so. She said: “ He gives a little cough after
it.” She gave an exact reproduction of the operation he and the
nurses went through so, so many times in his last illness. He would
cough a little and then bring up a lot of ropy saliva, which had to be
removed in just the way she showed me. She was completely mysti-
fied at first and could not understand what he was doing. I had
never spoken of this to her because it was one of the most agonizing
things in connection with his illness, and pains me greatly even
now to think of it. Her speaking of it caused me acute suffering, as
it is my greatest struggle to forget what he went through and place
my mind on what I hope to be his present better condition. I told
her at this time just what it all meant, and we discussed for some lit-
tle time what his reasons were for recalling this distressing thing.
The psychic thought the odor mentioned above had perhaps given
him a feeling of sickness and caused this memory in him. The odor
was not at all sickening to either the psychic or to me, although it
was decidedly unpleasant. After the odor died away, my husband
seemed to be his usual self again, and asked for the papers he had
held before with the clips on them. These he seemed to hold and
gesticulate as if making a speech. She hears him say : “ Mary, Mary,
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 633
my heart’s delight, you must not (sic) cry no more at night. You
know I am there with you, why feel so blue?” With this, Mrs.
Borden got up very enthusiastically and kissed me on the cheek a
number of small kisses, and said “ He wants to do that, he thinks
those rhymes are cute.” And so they are, and very much the sort
of thing he would do, and he could also think them “ cute.” As for
crying, I had told Mrs. Borden that I had done this the night before.
I have never known her to attempt to make jingles on her own
account.
Then she said he seemed to be holding a book of poems, and said
the name “ Robin." She picked up a volume of Mrs. Browning’s and
looked at a poem, but she said that was the wrong one, because he
pushed her head right down on the book. Not very gentlemanly, but
perhaps it was the only way he could indicate that a mistake was
being made! Truly enough, it was a poem that had no associations
for us. Then she saw a “ B.” I wonder if the “ Robin ” and the
“ B ” were attempts to say that he wanted Robert Browning, a se-
lection from whose works I have been asking for from my husband
for some time, as a test.
Mrs. B. asked me if I had been having more pain in my foot, for
she saw him again massaging it. I had that day suffered to some
extent with it for the first time since she saw him do this previously.
This time, however, the excruciating pain did not take place as be-
fore, it only threatened.
Then came disconnected, and seemingly meaningless words : “ A
bridge. Albright. Want to help you. Thanatopsis. Bryant. The
Gleaners. JCC,” and psychic saw manicure implements spread out
on the trunk. I could find no connection here.
Then psychic saw me in a dark blue velvet dress made very
plainly and of an extremely dark shade of blue. I once had a dress
of exactly this description which my husband especially liked. It
was of “ midnight blue ” and made very simply, but was one of those
garments that seem “ just right ” on the wearer. This I had some
years ago, and never another like it. Psychic had never either seen
or heard of this dress.
Psychic asked me if my husband used to eat apples, and I said no
he did not. She said he was eating something that looked exactly
like an apple. I do not know what significance this may have; this
is the second time she has spoken of it Mrs. B. ; “ Did he have
CM Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
leather slippers, big and roomy ? ” Yes, and always wore them at
home in the evenings. She heard the word “ Septimus,” meaning
nothing. Next she heard him say:
“ I struggled, didn't 1 ? You married me because you loved me,
didn’t you? You didn't care what they said. You appreciated my
efforts, didn’t you? God will take care of you. He is your body-
guard.” I asked psychic what she thought was meant by the third
sentence, and she said she supposed someone had opposed my mar-
riage. She had no means of knowing this, but this line has a very
great significance for me, as there was indeed a great deal of oppo-
sition to our marriage, and I “ didn’t care what they said,” then or
now or at any time. This is a very subtle reference, and few of my
friends would think there had been very much opposition, and yet
such was the case.
He spoke of someone on the Other Side .who seemed to be get-
ting in his way and annoying him. In fact, during the whole time
Mrs. Borden had the feeling that he was finding it hard to manifest
himself.
She heard him say : “ O God, give you back to me again ! I want
to hold you to my heart once more. Try and be brave. Don’t worry.
You will never be sorry for what you have done for me. You wrote
that poem for me. Date it.” I had previously shown Mrs. Borden a
few verses I had put together, and she was pleased with them. She
said : “ He wants you to get several together and put them into a
little book form — ‘ It will open up a world of communication between
you and me. It will tighten our bonds of love, brighten our pathway
and cheer us.’ ” Psychic here caught her breath and said “ I felt as
though I died then,” meaning she herself felt so. “ Did he have a
glass and lift it to drink and hold the spoon between the fingers?”
Oddly enough, when using the tabouret and chair that Mrs. Borden
was at the moment using, as before stated, he was almost always pro-
vided with a tall glass of some cool drink. Through slothtfulness I
often failed to give him anything on which to rest the spoon that was
almost always necessary, and he had perforce to hold it on most oc-
casions in just the way the psychic described. What a trivial thing,
and yet it brings me such a familiar picture of him as he was in life!
He then asked that my picture be placed near his, and that was
the end of the sitting.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
635
Remarks by the Editor.
What I have to say will be almost entirely related to the
pet-names.
Fortunately these were protected, against all slips of the
tongue or of memory, from the normal knowledge of Mrs.
Borden. Mrs. Spencer is certain that she never could, and never
did, mention any of them to the psychic. She is so singularly
sensitive in regard to them that she had never previously men-
tioned one to any living person and could not have done so in the
sittings without summoning up resolution against repugnance and
without remembering it when done ; besides which, according to
her testimony, she kept firmly in mind the necessity of extreme
caution all along the line, in order to guard evidence. That she
could not have disclosed these pet-names or any of them by in-
tention, that it is extremely improbable that she could have done
so by inadvertence, and that if she had mentioned one by inad-
vertence she would have noted and remembered the fact, seems to
me psychologically certain. The difficulty she found in mention-
ing one of the names to me even in a disguised form, the hesita-
tion before she gave it correctly, the long delay before she brought
herself to show me the entire list, after she learned that I agreed
with her as to the impressiveness of the facts she described, and
the travail of soul she experienced before yielding to urgent solici-
tation to disclose the whole list to readers of the Journal , were to
me convincing. I cannot doubt when she solemnly declares that
never were any of the pet-names disclosed by her to anyone pre-
vious to their coming out in the sittings, no, not to her nearest
relatives or dearest friend. And she as emphatically affirms that
her husband was at least as sensitive as she about their nomen-
clature of affection, that neither ever applied any of the names to
each other except when alone or in private letters, and that the
whole matter was a secret between them.
Here is the list of names Mrs. Spencer was accustomed to
apply to her husband :
Minnie-cat.
Kewpie.
Pixie.
Pinchie.
Pitty. Pettit. Pitchie. (Variations of Pinchie.)
636 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research .
Little Fox.
Lamb.
Turtle.
Little Boy Blue.
Baboy. ( Pronounced Bay-boy. )
Dadie. ( Pronounced Day-dy. )
Chicken. (Very rarely used.)
Squunchie. (Not recently used.)
There may have been a few other names, and, if casual and
sporadic ones were to be regarded, there doubtless were. “ But
these were the chief ones and the most lately in use.” And though
Mrs. Spencer has given time and pains to the task, she is not able
to remember any other secret names of established and major
rank. Of that class she considers the list as practically complete.
Such a common term as “ Dear,” about which the couple felt no
peculiar sensitiveness, so that they would employ it now and then
before others, is of course not included. And such terms, though
actually employed in life, are not counted in the evidential sum-
mary, though Mrs. Spencer is particular to say when any ex-
pression does not sound like her husband.
We will now review the manner by which the most of the
above list of names came out in the sittings.
Kewpie. On Oct. 15, 1921 (pp. 563-4), Mrs. Borden saw
“ two big eyes,” stumbled at “ Buster Brown,” but at once added,
" I see your husband sitting at a desk with a pencil in his hand.
He seems to be in an office, drawing. Now, you will laugh at
this, it is ridiculous. He draws a Kewpie doll — he makes a big
circle for the head, and a longer one for the body, very quickly,
and it looks just like one of these Kewpie dolls.” Mrs. Spencer
" admitted to the psychic that this was a good piece of evidence,
but did not tell her how good,” nor in what way it was good. The
admission somewhat vitiates the after mention of a Kewpie on
June 10th, 1922 (p. 624), but the inference which the psychic
therein drew “ as if he had been somewhere for pleasure and
won it,” shows that she had not divined that it meant himself.
The passage reads : " He shows me a funny Kewpie doll, as if he
had been somewhere for pleasure and won it, because he is in a
Palm Beach suit.” And the passage immediately follows refer-
ence to a kitten, which relates to another of the pet-names.
Mcdiumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
637
The fact is that this Kewpie was one of the favorite names,
and that Mr. Spencer numberless times did what the psychic saw
him do, drew a Kewpie for his wife’s amusement, big eyes and all.
Once, when discussing the publication of the experiments, but
after no previous allusion to the Kewpie incident, I asked Mrs.
Spencer to draw one as her husband used to make it. (All the
originals are destroyed.) She at once drew “ a big circle for the
head, and a longer one for the body” (an oval), with big eyes
and a few marks to indicate limbs, and added, “ But my husband
made them more rapidly than that,” which accords with the
psychic’s “ draws . . . very quickly.”
Little Fox. This comes next, not in importance, but in order
of appearance in the psychic’s deliverances; In the same sitting
and soon after the first mention of a Kewpie, Oct. 15, 1921, (p.
564) , came this : “ I see the drawing of a fox, would that mean
anything to you ? ”
It did mean something to Mrs. Spencer. She says : “ Another
part of our precious foolishness, and one of my husband’s nick-
names [Fox and Little Fox] in which he took special amusement,
as he had reddish hair and he thought it appropriate. This name
has so many associations that they would almost fill a copy of the
Journal by themselves.”
Minnie-Cat. At the sitting .of Dec. 30th, 1921 (pp. 566-8),
the psychic saw Mr. Spencer at a typewriter, operating it in the
inexpert manner which was his, and a letter issuing from the
machine, the first word of which was " Minnie.” The letter con-
tinued : “ Smile and be brave. Try to make the best of it. It is
only for a little while.” The psychic then said : “ He makes a lot
of little crosses for kisses, and draws a cat.”
It should be noted that none of the above details are liable to
the suspicion that they are picked out from a lot of unrecorded
ejaculations, though even then “ he draws a cat,” together with
the fact that the psychic did not often see him drawing anything,
would be hard to explain on the theory of chance coincidence.
But “ Minnie,” the three sentences aggregating but 18 words,
the crosses for kisses, and the drawing of the cat, constitute one
incident, stenographically recorded at the time. Aside from the
brief advice we have " Minnie," the crosses for kisses and the
drawing of the cat. The crosses for kisses are somewhat com-
638 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
mon, but they were true of many of Mr. Spencer’s letters, includ-
ing one shown me, whereas it is not the case with all men that
they have indicated kisses in letters by such means, and I never
did so in my life. “ Minnie ” and “ cat ” and the fact that the
cat was seen drawn by Mr. Spencer, are the great features.
If a psychic gets the word “ Dear ” there is no evidentiality
in the fact, since the term is next to universally employed as one
of affection. If the word is “ popsy-wopsy ” and it was actually
employed in life, it is evidential, though only to a small degree.
But when a term is so peculiar that the reader has never heard it
before and doubts if it was ever employed by one person in five
million as a term of affection for a person, we have a decidedly
evidential situation in case it occurs in a psychical deliverance,
distinctly coupled with the person who used it or to whom it was
applied, and normal knowledge of the facts is excluded. Es-
pecially is this true if the object representing a part of the name
is seen drawn by the person to whom it was relevant, and he
actually was in the habit of drawing it in his lifetime.
This is exactly the situation. Originating as Mrs. Spencer has
told us (p. 566), Minnie-Cat became the most persistent, as well
as the oddest, of all the pet-names which she bestowed upon her
husband. Scores and scores of times he called himself by this
title at the close of a letter, and drew a cartoon of himself as a
cat doing this and that thing. I have been shown a number of
such letters, and among them one with the crosses for kisses.
Note the combination — the letter, Minnie-Cat, and crosses!
Mrs. Spencer says : “ I will admit that I broke down here, and
told her it was good, but I did not tell her what it was or how
good, and to this day she has no idea in the world that she had
given me in two sections, one a drawing, . . . my husband’s best
pet-name.” But at least the psychic was now informed that some-
thing in the letter incident was significant and important, so that
any after mention has no additional weight unless the mention
is with such other particulars or in such a combination as to
evade the force of Mrs. Spencer’s admission.
The word '* Minnie ” on page 570, then, has no weight,
though it is again associated with Mr. Spencer, nor has “ cat ” on
page 572. But when, on Jan. 20th, 1922 (p. 574), “ Minnie-
meow, meow 1 ” and again “Meow, meow!” is followed by
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
639
"There is nothing else like it. I understand. You little kitten,
you little kitten complains. Do not come near me. Fraidy cat.”
it is a different matter. As the sitter says, it looks as though
"You little kitten” must be meant for "your little kitten.”
Why, otherwise, the repetition, if not from effort to get it right,
and why “ complains ”? What could "Do not come near me,
Fraidy cat,” mean, odd as the expression is, but that he was the
cat ? If " there is nothing else like it ” means the “ meow ” name,
it is not only intelligible but the truth. One wonders whether “ I
understand ” could not be meant- for an affirmation followed by
a question “I Understand?” Also, " Minnie-cat,” as the term
was used by the couple, always meant a kitten or small cat.
In the sitting of March 4th, 1922 (p. 606), after an evident
reference to Mr. Spencer as communicator, there came " Draw a
little kitten,” which direction Mrs. Borden obeyed. She was then
told to draw the sun, then the moon, and then heard the word
“ Minnie ” three times, followed by " Only mine,” which might
well represent an attempt to express that no one else had such a
name. Mr. Spencer’s settled habit, when he made the funny car-
toons, was to make them either on Sunday or on Monday morn-
ing. Could it be this fact that " sun and moon ” was intended to
express ?
On May 20th, 1922 (p. 612), came “ I dearly love my little
kitten,” followed by " Boots, boots, boots.” Plainly the term is
used as a name for either a cat or a person. Naturally Mrs.
Borden thought it meant Mrs. Spencer. But it might be a playful
quotation from or expression of the sentiments of his wife. And
I barely whisper the suggestion that “ Boots,” immediately fol-
lowing, might be the vestige of an attempt to get through a play-
ful reference to “ Puss in boots.”
On June 3rd, 1922 (p. 622), the psychic saw drawn under-
neath a chain which had belonged to Mr. Spencer and now was
worn about Mrs. Spencer’s neck, a cat, followed by the word
" Me.” Then Mrs. Borden said, “ He fastens the cat right to the
chain. He draws a heart.” This seems to tell a plain story.
The cat is Me, bound as by a chain to Mrs. Spencer, that is, to her
heart. And two other of the pet-names came in close connection,
one before and one after. Then Mrs. Spencer asked if the psychic
knew what name she had once given, part as a word and part as a
640 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
drawing, the two parts separated by other words. Mrs. Borden
said that she did not, but added that she was hearing the words
“Minnie and Meow; Minnie, Meow.” Either the spirit was
answering or Mrs. Borden’s subconscious was (if we credit her
words), but at any rate the problem is with us wherever the sub-
conscious originally got its information.
The only evidential value of the next reference to the kitten,
on June 10th, 1922 (p. 624), is in its combination with another
pet-name, Kewpie, which we have noted already. Again, on Aug.
11th (p. 631), came “ He draws a picture of a cat.” This in-
sistence on drawing is of value, seeing that the cat was the most
frequently drawn of all in Mr. Spencer’s lifetime.
Turtle. On January 4th, 1922 (p. 570), after a pertinent
message to “ Mimi,” the name of a sister of Mr. Spencer, Mrs.
Borden said, “ He draws a rose. Draws a turtle." As we find a
number of instances where this psychic’s first impression of a
word is afterward corrected, it may be that the “ Rose ” with its
rounded outline, was the first and mistaken impression of what
came directly after, as the drawing of a turtle with its oval shape.
At any rate the second impression corresponded with one of the
pet-names of the purported communicator, and that this is not an
accidental coincidence is made probable by the immediate suc-
cession of a convincing attempt to give another of the pet-names.
Dadie (pronounced day-dy). Following the drawing of the
turtle came “ Didi — dado — dido” [spelled out by the psychic].
These combinations might well represent an effort to give
“ dadie," and in them the first syllable of the actual pet-name ap-
pears once and the equivalent of the second appears three times.
Coming as they do in a matrix of relevances to Mr. Spencer, an
appropriate message coupled with the name of his sister, a recog-
nizable incident, a peculiarity of his speech, etc., and directly fol-
lowing a drawing of a turtle, which represents another of the
names, the presumption is greatly strengthened. It may be added
that while he was not accustomed to draw a turtle, he did draw
one, and also drew the other objects represented by the names, to
go with gifts to his wife on his last Christmas.
On Jan. 25th, 1922 (p. 582), closing a purported message
from Mr. Spencer as a signature might, came “ Noody, or nodee
dee, no dady." This looks like an effort to correct erroneous im-
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 641
pressions of the form of a word in the consciousness of the
psychic. It is very probable that “ Noo ” means the “ no ” which
twice follows. May not the sentence be a thin disguise for “ No
dy or [the psychic was uncertain which] no, deedee [equivalent
to Didi, the first form which came on Jan. 4th]; no, dady”
[equivalent to the actual pet-name Dadie].
The oddity of the name Dadie [pronounced day-dy] and the
fact that the psychic’s utterances played about it without once
falling into the assonantal pitfall of daddy, give this section of the
facts more weight.
Baboy [contraction of “Baby boy”]. There was a rather
persistent appearance in Mrs. Borden’s conscious of visual im-
ages of babies coupled with matter relating to Mr. Spencer.
On Dec. 30th, 1921 (p. 569), there was a baby in a swing or
something not determined, and then a crying baby. A little later
in the same sitting came “ My big boy,” of no account by itself,
but possibly significant in combination. On Jan. 20th, 1922 (p.
572), there is another picture of a baby followed by a reference
to a cat, the latter suggestive of one of the pet-names. Later in
the same sitting comes one of the most convincing of the Minnie-
cat groups, shortly followed by a veridical picture of Mr. Spencer
waving his hand and saying " Bahby.” Then “ Sincere wishes,
write again,” and what Mrs. Spencer, in her conscientious desire
to be accurate, says was something like “ Bad Boy,” or “ Baboy.”
The picture of what Mr. Spencer used to do in imitation of a
baby boy accompanied by " Bahby ” [remember that the pet-name
“ Baboy ” was a contraction of Baby Boy] followed by something
like " Bad Boy,” or “ Baboy,” added like a signature to the
words " Sincere wishes. Write again,” which suggest the end of
a letter, are impressive. And the way that in this and other sit-
tings apparent emergences of one pet-name occur in near con-
tiguity to emergence of one or more of the other names, all in a
setting of suggestive remarks about Mr. Spencer or attributed to
him, more and more produce the impression that there is an in-
telligence at work somewhere to make the names come out recog-
nizably and convincingly.
Pinchie (Variants were Pitty, Pettit , Pitchie.) In the sitting
of Jan. 25th, 1922 (p. 578), there purported to come from Mr.
Spencer the word “ Petsy,” followed by sounds such as he used
642 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
to make in his vocal exercises. Later in the same sitting and in
the midst of matter about Mr. Spencer, came “ Pretchie-Picture.”
followed by the impression of words addressed to the psychic,
“ I wish you would not act like that. I see you cannot under-
stand my enunciation sometimes, that is it.” We have direct
warrant in the text, then, for concluding that neither " Pretchie ”
nor “ Picture ” is exactly what was intended. We need not point
out the resemblance of both to “ Pitchie.’’ The first attempt gets
the latter syllable of the pet-name right, the second more nearly
approximates to the former syllable.
On June 3rd, 1922 (p. 620), the same communicator again
said something which sounded like “ Petsy,” followed by the re-
mark, “ You don’t guess it.” Then, after references to Long-
fellow which were not understood, he made a remark about
“ pictures,” and directly afterward the psychic had a quasi-visual
impression of him looking at his own picture, commenting upon
his own looks and using the very characteristic expression “ rather
saucy.” Both " Petsy ” and “ picture ” seem to play around the
variants Pitty, Pettit and Pitchie, and looking at representations
of himself and saying ” I am ” so and so might well be a device to
get through the fact that he was trying to give one of his
pet-names.
The impression produced becomes near certainty when, later
in the same sitting, the psychic sees under a chain on Mrs. Spen-
cer’s neck which had belonged to her husband, the word “ Petty,”
which is so near Pitty and Pettit. The effect is heightened when
“ Petty ” disappeared and in its place came a cat fastened to the
chain, followed by the word “ Me.” Other accompaniments en-
rich the evidential combination, as seen where we treated the
incident under Minnie-cat; especially the transition giving still
another of the names.
Lamb. The only passage which could possibly have been in-
tended to express this name occurs in the sitting of March 4th,
1922 (p. 607). It would be ridiculous to suppose that “ Baa, baa,
Black Sheep” was intended as a hint of it, if it stood by itself.
But the evidence that nearly all the names got expressed recog-
nizably makes it likely that whoever or whatever succeeded with
these would attempt this also. And the occurrence of the ex-
pression at the close of the message : “ Thank God that my wish
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden. 643
is realized, that it is possible to get in touch by spirit communica-
tion,” has something of the effect of a signature. But I would
not press this point.
Little Boy Blue. In the sitting of March 4th, 1922 (p. 608),
there occurs this curious passage : " He seems to wrap a big blue
veil around his face, and all around him I see blue, darker than
the sky.” Then, after a few sentences which throw no light upon
it comes, “ Blue-blooded people do not pay any attention to things
like that.” The first expression is unintelligible, the second sounds
as if dragged in. One wonders why this insistence on “ blue.”
On June 3rd (p. 622), came “ Blue-eyed Dimply Darling,” and it
was true that Mr. Spencer had both blue eyes and dimples, though
he was never called by that title. The foregoing passages only
suggest possibilities, in connection with the real evidence, which
came on June 20th, not at a sitting, but when Mrs. Borden was
writing Mrs. Spencer a letter, saying “ I feel lonesome * * *
rainy weather does give one the blues. * * * You see I feel just
like a little baby girl * * * I am lonesome,” and then, after some
lines asking Mrs. Spencer for the loan of another book to cure
“ Brain Fag ” occur these sentences : “ I am your little ‘ Boy Blue '
How funny I should say that. But it just wanted to be written,
so I wrote it.” (By the way, Mrs. Spencer's oral version of the
above, before the letter itself came into the possession of the So-
ciety, was weaker than what was actually written, one of many
noted indications that she is not prone to exaggerate.)
Of course Mrs. Borden’s feeling blue could have brought up
the term “ Little Boy Blue,” but we are not at liberty to ignore the
fact that instead of saying something like “ it makes me feel like
a Little Boy Blue,” as “ the psychic censor ” would have inclined
her to do, she says “ I am your little ‘ Boy Blue ’ and adds, won-
der ingly, that it is funny that she should say that, but it just
wanted to be written down. She does not feel the same way
about an earlier quoted phrase, but simply puts it down in quota-
tion marks “ Brain Fag.” And it happens that the funny sen-
tence was exactly appropriate as coming from Mr. Spencer, and
contained one of his pet names. This is another of the frequent
cases where it looks as though phrases and objects familiar to the
psychic and her very moods are utilized to make the connecting
bridge to what is sought to put through.
644 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Mrs. Spencer formerly would call her husband " Little Boy
Blue,” particularly when she wakened him in the morning by re-
peating the old nursery rhymes. This was not one of the more
frequent names, and it fell out of use, but it had been employed.
Chicken. In the sitting of June 3, 1922 (p. 622), in close
connection with the psychic’s seeing the word “ Petty ” ( which
we have already found to be the near equivalent of the variants
Pitty and Pettit) underneath Mr. Spenoer’s chain actually worn
by his wife at the sitting, then a cat attached to the chain, fol-
lowed by the word “ Me,” Mrs. Borden continued : “ He shows
me a picture of you [Mrs. Spencer] chasing a little chicken with
your dress held out.” It looks as though the lady’s remembered
habit of shooiqg away hens, which she feared, was utilized in a
playful way to bring up her name for him.
" Petsy,” “ Petty," the “ Blue-eyed Dimply Darling," the
“ cat ’’ that is “ Me,” the “ chicken ’’ and the “ Minnie-meow ” in
one sitting are a group to cause serious thinking.
At a sitting held on October 25th, 1922, after this part of the
report was otherwise ready for the press (but before the October
Journal was issued), important details were added. “ Petsy” is
given again, and “ Betsy ” is another attempt, both of which sug-
gestively play around the variants " Pitchie,” and “ Pettit.”
There is recognition that neither form is right, and also the dis-
tinct statement that the effort is to give a name by which Mrs.
Spencer used to call her husband. And then come “ Princie, dear,
or Frenchy,” the former of which is a distinct approximation of
“ Pinchie,” the name from which “ Pitchie,” “ Pitty ” and “ Pet-
tit ” were derived. It is to be emphasized that the names uttered
by the psychic as coming from Mr. Spencer are not isolated ejacu-
lations which require guesses to fit into place, nor mixed with
irrelevances, but form a concrete group and are distinctly applied
to the purported communicator. It is as if he first tried to give
" Pitchie ” and, expressing dissatisfaction, tried for the related
“ Pinchie.” The last syllable was correctly indicated by the alter-
nate form given — “ Frenchie.”
Pixie. Nothing came through to indicate this name, except
that this resembles the pet-name " Pitchie.” Anything in the
psychic’s deliverances which is like the latter is also somewhat
like the former.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
645
Squunchie. Nothing like this appeared.
The reader will form his own judgment whether it is reason-
able, under all the circumstances, to ascribe the remarkable series
of correspondences in regard to the pet-names to chance, or any
other normal cause. But he should take into consideration that
the words which appear to be identifiable with pet-names used in
life almost invariably were distinctly associated with material
expressly about Mr. Spencer, instead of being isolated ejacula-
tions like the unintelligible ones often found in the record.
I have already quoted the words which Mrs. Borden felt were
addressed to her, “ I wish you would not act like that. I see you
cannot understand my enunciation sometimes, that is it.” Here
is a direct intimation that the words intended sometimes under-
went alteration in transmission, and it followed what seems to be
an example. There are other recognizable examples in the record,
particularly meaningless words which on the second trial are
altered into something intelligible. On page 582 we find “ Petu-
ana.” That means nothing and if no progress had been made
would appear to be nonsense and prey for the shallow critic. But
it is followed by “ Pet you on your cheek,” which both has mean-
ing and relevance to past facts. “ Petuana,” then, has the very
decided appearance of being an auditory error for “ Pet you on
your — .” The immediately following “ Gege-hello, Edie ” is
meaningless as it stands, but may likewise auditorily resemble
something which is full of meaning. On page 619 is the word
“ Harvard," which the sitter reports has no relevance. She did
not notice that it apparently is corrected in the first word of the
next sentence, '* Heaven is where,” etc. It would be a bold guess
[a later one of Mrs. Spencer] that “ Gristie nightie ” is an
auditory error for “ Kiss good nightie ” [p. 579], were the mean-
ingless words not immediately followed by “ criss-cross, criss-
cross.” Remembering Mr. Spencer’s habit of making crosses for
kisses on his letters to his wife, it is a not unreasonable con-
jecture, the added words representing an attempt to make the first
two intelligible.
If none have been overlooked, there are only ten instances in
the record of seeing Mr. Spencer draw an object, seeing a draw-
ing or being told to draw something. He draws a Kewpie (p.
564), as he often did in life. The psychic sees a drawing of a
646 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
fox (p. 564) which he drew on that memorable last Christmas,
besides which he often signed letters to his wife by this title. He
draws a cat over (p. 567) and again (p. 631), the first time
with crosses, on another date she is told to draw a kitten, to-
gether with the sun and moon (p. 606), and on another she
sees the drawing of a cat with the word “ Me ” (p. 622). Thus
by the psychic the same relative importance is given to the name
and the act of drawing that existed in the lifetime of Mr. Spencer,
for Minnie-cat was his favorite pet-name and he drew a cat to
represent himself oftener than all other objects combined. Be-
sides, with the cat he often put crosses, at the end of a letter.
He draws a rose, but as the drawing of a turtle immediately fol-
lows, (p. 570) the former may be an error for the second after
the fashion of the verbal errors. And he did draw a turtle on
the last Christmas. He draws a heart in relevant connection with
the cat (p. 622). Finally he "seems to be drawing a sunset.
The sky is full of red colors. Minnie. Blake-lock. Blacklock ”
< p. 573). Mr. Spencer is not known to have actually drawn any-
thing of the kind, but do the allusions have any relevance to him,
as would be indicated, seemingly, by the inclusion of the word
“ Minnie,” part of his chief pet-name? Yes, he and his wife used
to go to exhibitions and give particular, tho by no means ex-
clusive attention, to Blakelock’s pictures, and they followed his
peculiar case with sympathetic interest. Mrs. Spencer had not
thought of this relevance at the time the incident was printed in
the October Journal, her attention being arrested by the fact that
Blacklock was her godfather’s name.
If the first coincidence involved in the passage is causal, the
second could be also, being found in the law that one name within
the circle of individual knowledge tends to call up another of
similar sound within the same circle. If the passage came from
a spirit, it would not be necessary to suppose that he intended
“ Blacklock ” to be expressed ; it might have come from his
marginal thinking. On the telepathic theory it would be ac-
counted for in a precisely similar way.
It is now seen that a significant proportion of the allusions to
drawing coincide with actual drawings made by Mr. Spencer in
his life time.
If attempts were made to get through tests of a literary nature
Mediumistic Experiments zvith Mrs. Borden. (A7
they were much less successful than the pet-names. Yet they
deserve some consideration.
In January, 1922 (p. 605), Mrs. Spencer’s mind dwells on the
fourteenth chapter of John, but she does not read the first part of
the chapter. At the next interview with Mrs. Borden the latter
recites, “ In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were
not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,”
which she had heard recited by Mr. Spencer in a dream which
partly concerned his wife, and which the psychic had had in the
interim. This proved to be the second verse of the same chapter,
as Mrs. Spencer discovered to her surprise. The fact that she did
not read the verse on the lately preceding day, and did not know it
was in the chapter whose latter part she read, “ not being very
much of a Bible student,” hardly suggests the telepathic theory,
if the incident is not one of sheer coincidence.
Preceding May 20th, 1922 (p. 609), Mrs. Spencer had been
mentally asking her husband to recall some of the passages,
mostly poetry, that they used to memorize together. On this
date (p. 610) the psychic saw the husband sitting up in bed as if
in his last illness and heard him ask the sitter to read him some
poetry. She got a book to seek his favorite sonnet, which she
had not read since his death, and it opened at once to the place,
tho on the next morning on a number of trials it would not open
to the same place. Personally I should not regard one such oc-
currence with a used book as particularly evidential, though a
number of such instances, involving different poems, might be.
On May 27th (p. 613) the communicator said “ That is one
thing I love — beautiful poetry,” which might have been simply a
reflection of the fact that the psychic had just read aloud a poet-
ical passage. But later in the sitting, without anything further
to lead up to it, the communicator is heard to say, “ Mortal man
is as Shakespeare said in the 1 Seven Ages of Man.’ ” In re-
sponse to a query, the psychic said she had not read in Shakes-
peare for months. The fact was that the “ Seven Ages of Man ”
passage is one of the first which the couple memorized together,
and one which they had much fun in quoting and paraphrasing.
Directly afterward the psychic saw written “ The Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyam.” And this also is a poem which was very fa-
miliar to the pair and from which they had memorized a number
648 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of verses. Mrs. Spencer asked if he remembered any of it and at
this and a later sitting a number of verses were referred to, some
of which were favorites and likely to be, while others were not.
Other authors and works were named, generally without evi-
dential significance.
While words and phrases ejaculated in no particular connec-
tion, such as “ Home,” “ Maude,” “ Henry,” “ Felix," “ Black-
feather,” “ Martha,” " seeing a Ferris wheel,” etc. (pp. 570-571),
are of no assignable significance or of doubtful significance, it is
striking how many of the visual impressions of Mr. Spencer do-
ing something or auditory impressions of his saying something
correspond with peculiar facts and characteristics in his lifetime.
These were by no means always inerrant, as the record shows,
and it is quite possible that a stenographic record of every word
would give a more formidable appearance to the errors,* but it is
hard to avoid the impression that so many hits, especially the
complex ones, could not have been the work of chance or inad-
vertences, especially as we bear in mind that the pet-names, which
largely belong to the same category, were both protected from
normal knowledge and numerically and by the strangeness of some
of them beyond the reach of mere coincidence. Many of the
details are so intimate and in a way trivial on the one hand, while
at the same time peculiar and characteristic on the other, that no
one not intimately acquainted with Mr. Spencer would have been
likely to acquire them normally.
Here are some examples : The typewriting, but in an inexpert
manner (p. 567); the organ-playing — a long-past fact — with the
flicking of ashes from a cigarette (p. 568) ; the cylindrical metal
box of a certain length kept for small change (pp. 571-2) ; the
* Note by Mrs. Spencer. — This is doubtless true, but on the other hand,
there are also a number of evidential incidents that have come through at odd
times — sometimes on the edge of another person’s sitting — of a nature too
elusive or too intimate to put into words. For instance, a certain gesture was
once given whose implications would involve pages and pages of explanation,
and if each such incident were embodied in the reports, it would almost be
tantamount to writing an autobiography of our married life.
Being in a position to know all the facts, and using the best judgment at
my command, which I strive at all times to render entirely impartial, I believe
the proportion of “ hits ” and " misses ” in the whole experience has been
practically the same as exhibited in the published records.
Mediumistic Experiments with Mrs. Borden.
649
regenerating effect of the studies with Prof. Daniels (p. 573) ;
the humorous incident associated with Miss Fielding’s feet (p.
577) ; the gargling exercise (p. 579) ; the mention of “ Bright
Boy ” and the associated habit of polishing things (pp. 579, 619) ;
the doggerel rhymes characteristic of Mr. Spencer, but not of
Mrs. Borden’s psychic work (pp. 580, 631, 632) ; the reference to
Van Cortlandt Park (after the rhymes) where he had made a
humorous recital of a poem, and soon after to ball-playing, which
was an incident of the park visit (pp. 580-1) ; the "pet you on
your cheek ” incident (p. 582) ; the characteristic act in reference
to dimples no longer existing (p. 608) ; the stroking of a large
bird (pp. 610-61 1 ) ; the picture of him eating an apple, which ar-
rests the attention more than if it were a true one, since he had an
apple-complex which made it impossible for him to eat an apple,
throughout his life (pp. 611, 633) ; the locating an unfinished let-
ter in a " portfolio ” in a locked trunk, also picking out the right
key of the trunk from a designated box and saying in advance that
the letter was in a drawer in the trunk* (p. 612); the feet-
massaging (p. 624) ; the tall glass and cold drink in connection
with the tabouret (p. 634) ; the description of book-shelves (p.
626) ; the whisper-kiss (p. 628) ; the gestures as though leading
an orchestra (p. 632) ; the symptoms of the last illness (p. 632).
This list is by no means exhaustive.
It is quite possible to apply the telepathic hypothesis to
nearly all, and perhaps all, of the contents of this record. One
must indeed, in that case, face the fact that many of the contrasts
between veridical results obtained in “ straight ” telepathic experi-
ments and those with a “ spirit medium ” pointed out in my paper
before the International Congress ( Journal for December, 1921)
are to be found here
One of the contrasts is worth taking into special consideration.
The consensus of opinion in regard to straight telepathy is that
surre ss is favored by the agent or agents thinking intently of the
object, sentence or whatever it may be which it is hoped will
emerge in the percipient’s consciousness. Now Mrs. Spencer, at
* I tried to pick out the proper key from the bunch and missed it, nor did
I guess that there were drawers in the trunk, though the lady could possibly
have guessed it.
650 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the beginning of the sittings, had her mind intent on the hope that
the communicator would use some of the pet-names which he had
been accustomed to apply to her, and not at all upon those which
she had applied to him. But it was the latter and the most im-
portant which began to come through. Of course an expectation
of other of these names would now be roused in the mind of the
sitter, and a certain mental dwelling upon them may be posited,
though the subsequent ones came unexpectedly to her supraliminal
consciousness on the several occasions. But this does not void
the fact that at first her mind was solely intent upon one class and
those of another came, as though her wish were known and met
in a general way so as to be evidential of true communication.
No preferences or prepossessions as to theory should blink this
fact. Furthermore, Mrs. Spencer did continue to hope that some
of the peculiar names applied to her would be given. Not one
was, but only terms which are in general use or expressions which
were not characteristic of him. Yet the list of her peculiar names
was about half as long as his. Therefore, considering the pro-
portion of his which came through, and conceiving that they were
obtained by any normal means, or by telepathy, there would be an
expectation that five of the names for Mrs. Spencer should have
been given. It is difficult to see how anything but deliberate in-
tention could have excluded all of the set at first solely desired by
the sitter and have produced nearly all of another set.*
•In taking a general survey of Mrs. Borden’s work, I am impressed with
the character of the communications that are evidential. They almost all con-
sist of work, articles and incidents that one would naturally suppose to have
become more deeply entrenched in my husband's consciousness than in mine;
as, his drawings, his keys, his little box of savings (kept secret from me for a
long timel, his unfinished letter, his sister whom I have never seen. None of
my sisters, whom we both knew, was ever mentioned. Mrs. Borden knows
none of either family except myself, and the chances would be as good, if not
better, for one of my three sisters to be mentioned, as for his only sister. I
think it is just because the memories were so much less strongly mine that I so
often had difficulty in remembering the facts that coincided with the purported
communications. — Note by Mrs. Spencer.
Book Review.
651
BOOK REVIEW.
Meroeilleux Phenomknes de 1‘au-dcld. By Madeleine Frondoni La-
combe. Lettre preface de 1’illustre astonome Camille Flammarion
et lettre de 1’illustre professeur de la Faculte de Medecine de Lis-
bonne le Dr. d’Oliveira Feijao. Libraire Ferin, Lisbonne, 1920.
Pp. 460.
This book is devoted almost exclusively to the physical phenomena of
spiritualism and is certainly the most extraordinary volume ever written
upon that subject. The authoress has been known for some years as one
who has been keenly interested in psychical phenomena and previous to
the seances herein described had participated in some sittings with
Eusapia Palladino.
In January, 1913, she was paying a visit to her friend, the Countess
Castelwitch, in Lisbon, and one day proposed to the latter that they
should try some table turning, which, together with one Mme. Pousa,
they did and obtained messages and replies to their questions in the
usual manner. It was soon evident to the sitters that the Countess was
a powerful medium and the most startling phenomena began to occur.
Indeed it would appear that the circle was equal to Palladino, Home,
Florence Cook and Eva C. combined, and this without any one person
going into a trance or even entering a cabinet When the Countess was
not available Mme. Lacombe came upon other persons who possessed
almost as great or even greater powers. Two ladies moving in good
society, Mesdames d'Andrade and Machado, discovered that their powers
were also far superior to most of the great classical mediums put to-
gether. Need it be added that later Mme. Lacombe believed that she
found traces of mediumship in herself so that she must have added force
to the remarkable power of the original circle.
The phenomena themselves were as varied as any psychical re-
searcher could wish. Generally he is contented if he gets one genuine
rap or the movement of some small object without contact. Here, how-
ever, everything was on the grandest scale. Telekinesis and levitations
of furniture and small material articles; fusillades and volleys of raps
and blows replying intelligently to questions; materializations of hands
of all sizes and of all kinds; half formed and full formed phantoms,
some in uniform and one carrying a large sword and another a lamp
d la D. D. Home; a phantom who signed his name on a piece of paper,
his signature being recognized as identical with the life script; a splendid
series of vivid lights; the disappearance of flowers and other objects
which had been enclosed in sealed boxes in full light; the sudden appear-
ance of these objects weeks after in the form of apports; direct writing
with authentic signatures; a table broken into 200 small pieces d la W.
Jeffrey; another table vanishing altogether; many apports of flowers
through solid walls besides apports of plants and a piece of ancient
sculpture d la Charles Bailey; notes played on musical instruments and
the pages of a large music book turned by invisible hands; marks of
fingers in clay and initials traced on smoked paper contained in sealed
boxes ; kisses by invisible beings and weird blade silhouettes cowering in
652 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
comers; astonishing phenomena in a tomb in a cemetery in daylight and
many other wonders of a like order. Many photographs were taken by
the authoress and some reproductions are included in the book. Thus
PI. 20 illustrates what appears to be a person dressed in a sheet with a
muffler hanging down and a large napkin over his face; PI. 21 shows a
similar figure only with the face uncovered revealing a ghastly and
grinning skull, whilst PI. 22 shows us a ferocious looking negro in a
cassock and a sheet for a cloak brandishing a large scimitar and poking
forward a broad, soft-looking slipper as he advances; PI. 26 illustrates
another phantom. This time it is a soldier in uniform, a full-bearded
man with his buttons and stripes shining and the light reflected off the
polished surface of his boot. Certainly on glancing over these pictures
we might imagine ourselves back with old Col. Olcott of the rolling eye
making the acquaintance of his People from Another World.
At this stage the reader ma> ask what evidence the book contains in
support of these marvels and what testimony has been published from
independent witnesses. The chief authority relied on by the authoress is
the late Dr. d’Oliveira Feijao, who was present at a good many of the
sittings, and who arranged for some of them to be held at his own house.
Flammarion calls him an " experimentateur averti”; he himself says
that he knew very little of occult matters (p. 144) so the reader will be
able to judge what his testimony is worth. Another witness is Dr.
Souza Couto, (since dead), a lawyer, and there are others such as Mr.
Lacombe and friends of the authoress.
It is certainly very unfortunate that the greatest outbreak of psych-
ical phenomena the world has ever seen should have occurred at a time
when no psychical researcher could be in attendance in order to devise
some better control and experiments than those instituted by the circle.
The book indeed cannot be criticized. It lacks every detail necessary for
a proper understanding of the conditions. We should like, however, to
hear the opinion of Count Castelwitch, who always appears to have
retired to bed immediately the ladies sat down to witness marvels more
wonderful than the most extraordinary phenomena ever recorded
hitherto. — E. J. D.
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
HONORARY FELLOWS
Rt. Hon. Earl Balfour, London,
England.
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Woking, England.
Prof. Sir Wi*. F. Barrett, London,
England.
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Dr. Charles L. Dana, New York.
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Camille FlammarionJuvujt, France.
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Austria.
Pro f. Pierre Janet, Pari*, France.
Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chancellor
Stanford University. CaL
Prof. C. G. Jung, Kussnach, Switzer-
■ land.
Sir Oliver J. Lodcr Birmingham,
England.
Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Pari*, France.
Prof. William McDougall, Harvard
University.
Dr. Frederick Peterson, New York.
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Prof. F. C. S. Schiller, Oxford,
England.
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Munich, Germany.
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HONORARY MEMBERS
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Italy.
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Switzerland.
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Hon. Everard Feildinc, London,
England.
Camille FLAMMARioN.Juvisy, France.
Prof. A. For el, Yvorae, Switzerland.
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Prof. Enrico Morselu, Genoa, Italy.
Mr. J. G. Piddincton, Woking, Eng-
land.
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sanne, Switzerland.
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land.
HONORARY ASSOCIATES
Dr. Sydney Airutz, Upsala, Sweden. Helen Alex Dallas, Crawley, Sus-
sex, England.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
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Conn. versity, New York City.
Dr G. V. N. Dearborn, Cambridge, Prof. J. Gibson Hume, Toronto,
Man. Canada.
Prof. Adolf Meyer M. D„ Baltimore, Md.
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Inc.
*
The American Society for Psychical Research, Inc, was incorporated
under the Laws of New York in 1904 under the name of American Insti-
tute for Scientific Research, for the purpose of carrying on and endowing
investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-therapeutics.
It is supported by contributions from its members and an endowment
fund which now exceeds $225,000. The income of the Society only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Society
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Society is perpetual.
The endowment funds are dedicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under the control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.'
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Society for Psychical Research, Inc, whether to the uses of
psychical research or psycho-therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The
form which such dedication should take when made by will is indicated
in the following condensed draft.
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL
RESEARCH, Inc.
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Society for Psychical
Research, Inc., a corporation organised under the Laws of New York, the
sum of dollars,* in trust for the corporate purposes o t
such Society.”
• In cue tfa« bequest U reel estate, or other (pacific item* ot property, they ahould be
sufficiently described for identification.
Journal of the
American Society
for
Psychical Research
Volume XVI. December, 1922 No. 12
CONTENTS
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT:
PACE
An Appeal for Co-operation in the Study of Psychic Phenomena . 653
New Contributors ... ...... 654
GENERAL ARTICLES:
A Review of Richet. By Henry Holt, LL. D. .... 655
The Spirit Hypothesis. By Dr. Gustav Geley (Translated by J.
W. Hayward, M.Sc.) ....... 671
The Society’s Work, Where and Whither? By Miles Menander
Dawson, LL. D. . 683
Physical, Phenomena Recently Observed with the Medium Willy
Sch. at Munich. By E. J. Dingwall, M. A. . . 687
Notes from Periodicals. By Gardner Murphy, A.M. . . 699
Seeing Light. By J. W. Hayward, M.Sc. i . . 702
BOOK REVIEW:
How to Hold Circles for the Development of Mediumship at
Home (Rev. Franklin H. Thomas) ..... 708
INDEX: 709
Published monthly by the A. S. P. R. $6 Annually. Abroad £1. Is. 60 cents a copy.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices at 44 East 23rd St., New York, N. Y.
Printed by the York Printing Company, York, Pa., to which send changes of address.
Entered as second-class matter, July 19. 1917, at the Post Office at York, Pennsylvania, under
the Act of March A, 1679. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for
in Section 1108. Act of October 8, 1917, authorised April 27, 1922.
,0r. .
THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WILLIAM McDOUGALL, President
John I. D. Bristol Vice-President
Walter Franklin Prince Principal Research Officer and Editor
Gertrude O. Tubby Secretary
Lawson Purdy Treasurer
ADVISORY SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL.
William McDoucall. D.Sc., M.B.,
F.R.S, Chairman ex-officio, Harvard
University.
Daniel F. Comstock, S.B, Ph.D.,
Cambridge, Mass.
John E. Coovta, M.A, Ph.D, Leland
Stanford Jr. University.
Charles L Dana M.D, LL.D., Cornell
University Medical College.
Miles M. Dawson, LL.D., New York,
N. Y.
Irving Fisher, Ph.D.. Yale University.
Lyman J. Gage, LLD., San Diego, Cal.
H. Norman Gardiner, AM, Smith Col.
Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D, University of
Wisconsin.
Henry Holt, LL.D, FA.A.S, New
York, N. Y.
Waldemar Kaempefebt. B.S, LLB,
New York, N. Y.
Samuel McComd, D.D, Episcopal Theo-
logical School, Cambridge, Mass.
William R. Newbold, Ph.D, University
of Pennsylvania.
Frederick Peterson, M.D, LLD., New
York. N. Y.
Morton Prince, M.D, LLD, Boston,
Mass. ,
Walter F. Prince, Ph.D, Secretary of
the Council, New York, N. Y.
Michael L Pupin. Ph.D, LLD,
Columbia University.
Leonard T. Trqland, S.B, AM, Ph.D,
Harvard University.
Roboit W. Wood, LLD, Johns Hopkins
University.
Elwood Worcester, D.D, Ph.D, Bos-
ton, Mass.
TRUSTEES.
John I. D. Bristol, Chairman ex-officio. Mrs. Margaret Deland.
Weston D. Bayley, M.D. Rev. Frederick Edwards.
Titus Bull, M.D. George H. Hyslop, M.D.
Miles M. Dawson. Lawson Purdy.
Titus l.
Miles M.I.
i Oqqsic
VOLUME XVI— No. 1*
DECEMBEB. 1#**
JOURNAL
OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
CONTENTS
Pmi
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT : 933
OBNBRAL ARTICLES:
A Review of Bicbct. By Henry Holt,
LL.D «W
The Spirit Hypotheeia. By Dr. GuaUr
Geley, (Tranaiatted by J. W. Hay-
ward. M.Sc.) 87 1
The Society 'a Work. Where and
Whither? By MUea Menander
Dawaon. LLD, .... 98S
Pul
Phytica] Phenomena Recently Ob-
aereed With the Medium Wifly Sch.
at Munich. By E.J. Dingwall, M.A. 887
Note* Prom Periodical. By Gardner
Murphy, A.M. .... 888
Seeing Light. By J. W. Hayward. M.Sc. 708
BOOK REVIEW: .... 708
INDEX : 710
The raapooeibility for atatamaotn, whether of tact or opinion, printed in the Journal,
mean entirely with the writer! thereof. Where, for good reaeon, the writar'e true name
la withheld, ft ie preaerred on file, and la that of a pereon apparently trnatworthy.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND COMMENT.
An Appeal for Co-operation in the Study of Psychic Phenomena.
In the1 June number of the Journal Mr. Dawson called atten-
tion to the fact that Mr. Gardner Murphy, Lecturer in Psychology
at Columbia University, had been appointed Hodgson Fellow in
Psychical Research at Harvard University. To the income of
the Hodgson Fund, the American Society for Psychical Research
has added a sum to make possible extensive experiments under
unusually favorable conditions. These experiments will for the
present centre in the study of telepathy, but will by no means be
confined to this. It is hoped that cases representing all the
" mental phenomena ” of Psychical Research may be found.
Mr. Murphy requests that the readers of the Journal send to
him, at the Office of the Society, with a view to experimentation,
the names and addresses of persons who have at any time had
experiences apparently indicating psychic gift. Attention is
called especially to the following :
654 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Telepathy; clairvoyance; clairaudienoe ; premonitions; coinci-
dental dreams; apparitions; automatic writing or other autom-
atisms having supernormal features.
These researches will of course be adapted to the convenience
of the persons studied, and care will be taken to follow the policy
of the Society in withholding names unless express permission to
publish is given.
As Mr. Murphy is in New York half of each week and in
Cambridge half of each week, he can visit cases within one hun-
dred miles of either city. In cases of unusual importance, he
could make longer journeys. He hopes, however, to conduct ex-
periments in “ long distance telepathy ” with sensitives who are
too far away to permit of a visit to them. Telepathic cases are
therefore specially desired.
New Contributors.
Henry Holt, LL.D., the veteran publisher, editor and
author, is too well known to require an introduction. It is only
in allegiance to a formula, and to signalize his first article written
for the Journal, that we enter his name in this place.
Gardner Murphy, A.M., furnishes the notes from period-
icals in this issue, and will continue to do so, also, it is hoped,
book reviews and other matter, from time to time. The. forego-
ing “ Appeal for Co-operation ” contains data about him.
Harriet L. Green, contributor to the October Journal, is of
old New England stock, was bom in New Hampshire, married
Mr. Francis J. Green and now lives in California. She and her
husband, prior to his death, travelled much, especially on the
Pacific, and she has done some Polynesian research. She was first
a Congregationalist, then a Unitarian, then for many years an
agnostic, strongly anti-spiritualistic. Personal experiences and
study brought about a change of attitude.
A Review of Richet.
655
A REVIEW OF RICHET.*
By Henry Holt, LL.D.
M. Richet has earned his great and deserved fame as an in-
vestigator rather than as an expounder and correlator. This book
is largely, perhaps mainly, a collection of abstracts of cases met
in a wonderfully wide range of experience and reading continued
through many years. It contains accounts, such as they are, of
probably more cases than are touched upon in any other book on
the subject. The author even cites dozens of them but to indicate
* that they are not worth citing ; and he cites many ancient legends
with apparent faith. And yet he says (p. 758) : “ When dealing
with highly improbable facts, one should not be content with a
demi-proof, with an experiment almost satisfactory, with a con-
clusion almost certain. I have not given place in my book to such
allegations.”
The student who wants to be put on the track of any fact or
set of facts, will perhaps find as much ground covered here as in
the two indexes so far issued for the publications of the Society
for Psychical Research, and with more information than can be
conveyed in a mere index. M. Richet has given us Metapsychics
up to date, digested and indexed.
Yet the utility of such an enormous number of cases in a text-
book seems to us seriously open to question. Unless a reader can
be convinced, one way or the other, by a much smaller number,
he can’t be convinced at all ; and to get in the enormous number,
the author had to condense most of the life out of them. That
portion of the book is mainly a hortus siccus. Many a case as
originally reported elsewhere has caused more conviction than
could any dozen to the same purport as given here. This makes
much of the book very dry reading.
Evidently the book is largely made up of notes accumulated
during years of reading and experiment, and it has suffered, as
another recent great book, Lord Bryce’s “ Democracy.” has suf-
* Cbaju.es Richet, Trait £ Metaf>sychique (Paris, Alcan) 8vo. pp. ii, 793.
t. tOO'Jk
656 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
fered, from being composed at periods years apart. But neither
book has suffered much in essentials, but more in form; and
Richet much more than Bryce, because of the greater vagueness
and immaturity of Richet’s subject, as well as the disjointed
nature of so much of his material.
The author has apparently flung his notes, as he made them,
into their respective compartments, and later used them with in-
sufficient revision, correlation and avoidance of duplication. At
intervals, sometimes, of course, long intervals, he met the same
case in different books, when apparently he did not remember
meeting it before, and apparently often a second or third abstract
of it has gone into its appropriate receptacle. Sometimes the case
has been met under a variety of classifications, and so it has been
repeated under several classifications in the author’s collection;
and repetitions are not infrequent in each separate classification.
Repetition has been no more of a bugbear in the expression of
the author’s opinions than in the arrangement of his material;
nor has excessive detail. All this makes the dry reading a little
less dry by being occasionally irritating. Yet occasionally there
is a concentrated flash of comment that relieves the reader and
even arouses his gratitude, and encourages him to wade along.
These are none too frequent, however. Probably the impulsive
vivifying touch by which genius sometimes extracts the life from
a mass of facts, is hardly consistent with the heroic patience
which makes a hundred experiments that only prove the same
thing, or even with that more progressive patience which corrals
all the erratic facts that wander, many of them unclassified and
unrelated, through fields that seem limitless and full of hiding
places.
The index and other “ furniture,” while appearing quite elab-
orate, have also suffered, like the body of the book, from insuf-
ficient care, and are by no means adequate to the work’s extra-
ordinary fullness.
The author begins by giving us a very welcome new word
which occupies the same relation to the psychics so far known to
us, that Aristotle's corresponding word bears to physics. M.
Richet defines the science which he calls Metapsychics as having
for its object “ phenomena which appear to depend upon an intel-
A Review of Richet.
657
ligence, and an intelligence other than human intelligence.”
Making the term metapsychic cover phenomena so largely physical
as the various modes of telekinesis, seems open to the same ob-
jection that has often been urged against marking as “ psychical ”
the “ research ” into the same phenomena. And although the
force producing these phenomena seems to be generated in the
human system, or conveyed through it, there may be some hesi-
tancy to admit that its manifestations always depend upon intel-
ligence. Possibly M, Richet would claim that only so far as they
do, they come within the province of Metapsychics.
Then he goes on to say ( p. 43 ) that mediums are individuals
who, when partly or totally unconscious, “ utter words, accomplish
acts, make gestures, words, gestures, acts ( sic. " disent des paroles,
accomplissent des actes, font des gestes, paroles, gestes, actes ")
which seem disconnected from their wills, and appear independent
of their intelligences. If the words which we have just quoted in
the original presented a fair idea of the author’s writing, the
reader might feel discouraged, but we hasten to assure him that
although they remind one of some peculiarities of the book, they
are very far from giving a just notion of it.
He divides his facts into three groups — kryptesthetic (The
author initials it with a c. The reviewer prefers not to do that
much violence to the Greek), telekinetic and ectoplastic
I. Kryptesthetic, he makes include all the subjective phe-
nomena, and thus, so far as concerns them, throws up the sponge.
In fact, at the very outset he comes near doing this in regard to all
the phenomena : for he says in his first paragraph : “ I am content
to set forth the facts and to discuss their reality, not only without
pretending to a theory, but even scarcely mentioning theories.”
This self-denying ordinance, however, he is very far from stick-
ing to, as we shall see.
In spite of saying (p. 752) “ Science has no right to formulate
a single negative,” he vigorously contests the spiritistic theory, but
all he gives in place of it is to say in Greek that he doesn’t know —
that the phenomena result from a recondite sensibility with which
some people are endowed. The philosophies of George Pelham
and Edward Friend all are created by' the kryptesthesia of the
mediums, the knowledge that the medium apparently could have
658 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
had only from a postcamate intelligence, is dug out by her
kryptesthesia, and the astounding gallery of dramatic char-
acters contained in the literature of the subject is created by the
mediums by the same all-powerful faculty. That these things can
be due to anything else is “ absurd,” because our author has told
us to what they really are due — namely, to a thing with a Greek
name which means that nobody knows what it is. He goes so far
toward the spiritistic, however, as to admit (p. 252) that there
must be some external influence to put kryptesthesia into action,
but he scouts the idea that the external influence should be a post-
camate intelligence desiring to communicate.
Yet, with his admirable candor (which is brave enough for
occasional inconsistency, though he seldom seems conscious of it),
when (on p. 780) he is summing up his laborious work, he says
" I don’t let myself be deceived by the mirage of words. Krypt-
esthesia is no more than a word which does not even disguise our
ignorance. Admit that kryptesthesia exists. That doesn't in the
least resolve our troublesome questions — very troublesome, for
which we have no answer: problems which perhaps the meta-
psychics of the future will clear up if it is satisfied to remain
strictly experimental.’’
Yet kryptesthesia is a very handy term to indicate certain
facts, even though it does not explain them, and a very good term
if it is not taken to explain them, and made to cover more than
it can.
II. Telekinesis he first announces as "a mechanical action
different from known mechanical forces, which works without
contact, at a distance, under determined conditions, upon persons
or things.”
Frequently, as here, he restricts it to molar action, tho at times
he seems forced to let it cover, as previous writers have, molecular
action — the crackings of wood, tickings in various materials, and
“ spiritual ” light, heat and sound — all apparently various modes
of the same thing, just as the mechanical force and the light, heat,
electricity, etc., that we already well know, are all modes of the
same thing. Richet, by the way, speaks once of telekinesis as a
mode of electricity or magnetism, which it plainly is not : for it
acts on wood.
III. Ectoplasm. On page 656 he says that he devised
A Review of Richet.
659
(imaging) the word ectoplasm. It was apparently an unconscious
recollection — and an unfortunate one. He has unwarrantably
lifted the term from a permanent covering of certain protozoa
on to an occasional exudation from the highest organism we
know. Geley has suggested teleplasm, which fits in well with the
rest of the teles and seems more suggestive than ecto.
Richet defines his word as referring to “ the formation of
objects which in most cases seem to come out of the human body
and take on the aspect of material reality (garments, veils, living
bodies).” In this definition he leaves out the cases of Crawford *
and others where the exudation seems to serve as the vehicle for
telekinesis, yet he often alludes to them elsewhere.
Whatever else may be said of our author, it cannot be said that
he is (in the immortal, or ought-to-be immortal, words of John
Dennett, who originally fixed the literary authority of The Na-
tion) " so lost to decency as to be anxious about the salvation of
his soul.” Less than a fifth of his book is taken up with the ques-
tion of survival; probably an eighth would be a closer estimate,
but the matter is hard to disentangle. Very early (p. 10) he
contrasts the interest of the English S. P. R. in mental questions
with the French interest in physical ones. In fact, of recent years
the French have been absorbed in teleplasm, to the neglect of tele-
psychosis. He doesn’t believe there’s anything to be saved after
the body dies. He repeats to a rather tiresome extent his con-
viction that there’s no evidence of the existence of a mind without
a brain ; and many times disposes to his own apparent satisfaction
of the opinion that there is such evidence, with his pet epithet of
“ absurd.” The phenomena that some people consider such evi-
dence, he attributes to the action of living brains, but confesses
his inability to explain it, confesses the processes to be hidden, but
seems to take a great deal of comfort in covering them with his
name to that effect — kryptesthesia.
But on page 62 he says : “ All that can be done by a human
intelligence, however profound and however subtle, is psychic.
Metapsychic is all that a human intelligence, however profound
* The book and this review were written before the reviewer had seen M.
Fournier d'Albe’s report on Crawford's medium. Otherwise some things in
both might have been expressed differently.
660 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
and however subtle, cannot do.” But rather than let in a post-
human intelligence to do it, he insists time and again that we know
nothing which the kryptesthesia of a human intelligence cannot
do. Consequently, then, we know nothing metapsychic, and either
he knew nothing about which to write his big book, or he has
got to change his definition of its title, or admit (as in fact he
does nearly as often as he denies it) that his dear kryptesthesia
can’t account for anything.
Regarding the new subject of ectoplasm the volume is far the
most instructive of all that have yet appeared. Schrenck-
Notzing’s big book devotes many times the space to it, but in an
almost monotonous repetition of his own experiments, while
Richet gives a clear and interesting exposition of virtually all of
the subject that has yet been found out. In his impressions of its
importance, however, he goes much farther than we are yet ready
to follow. That Katie King, Bien Boa, Phygia, Nepenthes, and
Lucie presented all the obvious qualities and functions of
human beings, he distinctly believes. We await explanations.
Especially do we need them for the statements that the “ hair "
that Crookes cut from Katie King, and our author cut from
Phygia, and the bits clipped from the drapery of Mme. de I’Es-
perance, all preserved their integrity, although they were made of
a substance which cannot be disconnected from the medium gen-
erating it without such damage as would result from removing
parts of the body as we ordinarily know it — a substance, too. the
remainder of which, after these portions of it were removed, as
in all other instances (so far as our author and we know the
records) was absorbed back into the bodies of the mediums.
Now the independent existence of teleplastic personalities is
in direct contradiction to the above statements over and over again
made by Crawford, Schrenck-Notzing and other authorities only
less high — and even quoted in many connections by Richet him-
self. They are not stated regarding the nebulous teleplastic
masses surrounding Franek Kluski, but they are made most im-
pressively regarding Miss Goligher, Eva and others. Such con-
tradictions, however, are not to be wondered at, in the present
state of our knowledge, and the opposing statements may be
reconciled by farther experience.
A Review of Richet.
661
The contradictions almost force the impression that there must
be several kinds of teleplasm, or that there may be a kind peculiar
to each medium, including fraudulent kinds with some mediums.
Richet, however, suggests very plausibly that the degree of con-
nection required varies inversely as the power of the medium, and
that the most powerful mediums require no connection at all.
Teleplasm seems to have had a powerful effect on M. Richet’s
imagination in many ways. He freely accepts it as accounting
for all that has been claimed for Bien Boa, Katie King and sev-
eral other “ persons.” He has a faith regarding it which if not
of the kind that moves mountains, is nearer the kind that swal-
lows them. Probably, however, each student of Metapsychics has
that sort of faith on some pet topic of his own.
M. Richet wonders at the credulity of those who can put faith
in anything so counter to all previous experience as postcamate
communication. Whether that is more counter to previous ex-
perience than the production through an emanation from one
human body of another independent human being, clothes and all,
moving, thinking, speaking, warm and substantial to the touch,
is a question that we shall have to leave our readers to determine
for themselves.
Because Miss Goligher, Eusapia and several others seemed to
use teleplasm as a vehicle for the telekinetic force, and because the
teleplasmic hands have been seen around Eusapia, " Eva,” Kluski
and others, our author jumps to two questionable conclusions —
first that teleplasm takes part in all telekinesis, and second, that all
telekinesis is effected by teleplasmic hands. Regarding the first
conclusion the weight of evidence seems to us strongly the other
way, unless telekinesis is to be restricted to cases like Miss Goli-
gher's where there is no contact whatever. In the innumerable
cases where a touch has lifted a heavy table, teleplasm seems
utterly superfluous.
As to the teleplasm in telekinesis taking the shape of hands,
not only is it too superfluous, but Crawford's express statements
and his photographs indicate it as working in other shapes. Not
only is there a flat surface of his cantilever under the table, but he
describes the rods as curving around the table legs, and he does
not give a sign that we remember, of Miss Goligher’s teleplasm
ever approximating the shape of a human member.
662 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
We marvel at M. Richet’s full acceptance of the pictures on a
folded material which were exhibited by " Eva.” We do not say
that they were prepared beforehand and trickily introduced into
the sittings. But we do say that at the present stage of the game,
it is. highly credulous to say anything else. But we freely admit
for anybody the right to refrain from saying anything at all — a
right which in many less exacting cases, M. Richet himself uses
very freely and very wisely.
On pages 652-3 he describes a number of materializations by
Eva, and with his usual admirable candor adds : “ These figures
(like many others) as they appear in photographs, have no relief.
They are like designs, representations, and — what is more singu-
lar still — one makes out something like folds of paper on the
picture, as if a drawing had been folded three or four times and
then unfolded to be photographed — it all seems like flat material-
izations, or if you prefer, materialized designs.” Well, all this
does not disturb our author’s wholesale faith in materializations!
It tempts one to wonder what could. His discussion of them
(pp. 653-5, also on pp. 668-9) is very curious.
Notwithstanding his faith in materialization and his asserting
his being touched in the dark by hands in his nearly two hundred
seances with Eusapia, he says ( p. 633 ) that he never saw one of
the hands.
He is capable, perhaps like the rest of us, of saying very ex-
travagant things in support of his opinions : for instance, he says
(p. 606, regarding materialization of teleplasm) : “ The material-
ization of a hand is neither easier to understand nor harder than
that of a glove which covers it.” The context shows that he
means not merely the form of a hand, but an organized one.
It’s odd and suspicious that virtually all the apparently living
personages made of teleplasm like Bien Boa and even Katie King,
despite her very English name, had more or less of an oriental
get-up. Turbans and robes help to concealment, and all sorts of
sophistry and humbuggery are associated with oriental mysticism.
The picture of Bien Boa in M. Richet’s book looks like a made-up
figure, if any symmetrical uncaricatured figure ever did.
On pp. 683-4, he gives brief accounts of some less known
alleged materializations as astounding as the well-known ones of
Katie King and Bien Boa, but, as is too often his way, does not
A Review of Richet.
663
give the sources of his information. One of these cases — Mme.
D’Esperance — anticipates by nearly thirty years the moulds of
materialized hands which lately astounded, we venture to say,
most of the readers of the Revue Metapsychique. And this is far
from the only instance where, in various departments, M. Richet
goes far behind cases which are probably the earliest known to
most of us.
As he progresses through the book, he comes more and more
under the domination of an analogy, which, however, has not
greatly impressed us. The fact, as he takes it, that the body has
the power to throw off teleplasms which effect telekineses and
materializations, impresses him with the idea that the mind can
throw off kryptesthesias which account for all the non-material
(subjective) phenomena of Metapsychics. So strongly is he im-
pressed by this analogy and by his preponderant interest in tele-
plasm that, it seems to us, they have impeded his doing equal
justice to the whole psychical side of the subject.
M. Richet’s absorption with ectoplasm leads him to say that
ectoplasm is the basis of the whole subject of Metapsychics.
Well, probably everything we know has a physical basis, never-
theless, it would seem rather queer to call Physics the basis of
Metaphysics, and there are students of Metapsychics who will
consider that placing ectoplasm at the bottom has not yielded as
inspiring results from the Paris school as placing ostensible spirit-
communication — or shall we say telepsychosis? — at the bottom,
has yielded from the London school. Such students will not find
as much in this great book of Richet or in the great book of
Schrenck-Notzing as they have found in the great book of Myers.
Among the points on which M. Richet bases his denial of sur-
vival, the following suggest comment : (p. 262) “ The only proof
of survival is the affirmation of the medium.” A great many
leading intellects — intellects on even the high level of M. Richet’s
— hold that there are many other proofs.
The marvels of personifications he accounts for by saying (p,
261) that often kryptesthesia has dug out a lot of facts which it
does in the give and take of conversation, and that it “ has an in-
vincible tendency to group them around a new personality ” !
Why should it, and why doesn’t it get the personalities mixed?
664 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
And, perhaps most marvelous of all, why does it serve out just the
personalities they are interested in to sitters whom it doesn’t
know?
He asks (pp. 260-1) why if Mrs. Piper’s kryptesthesia could
create Phinuit (who, he asserts, never existed) it is not more
probable that it also created G. P. than that G. P. postcamate
really declared himself. It is not proved that it created Phinuit,
but the conclusive answer is that virtually all of G. P.’s statements
have been verified, while Phinuit’s have not.
M. Richet repeats (p. 257) the false statement that Phinuit
could not talk French. There is overwhelming testimony that he
could, and intensely idiomatic French at that. See Mr. Rich’s
statement in the first Hodgson report on Mrs. Piper, Proceedings
S. P. R.. VIII.
M. Richet’s statement (p. 258) that the alleged discamates
are almost always of very mediocre intelligence and given to
banalities, looks as if he had not read the reports of Hodgson,
James, Newbold, Lodge, and the involuntary writings of Mrs.
Verrall, Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Friend. This impression is sup-
ported by his saying in a single paragraph that Pelham was a
pseudonym for Robinson; (his real initials were G. P.) that he
spoke to Mrs. Howard about her bad violin playing, (it was about
her daughter’s), and that Howard tore up “ with violence ” the
marvelous long communication that convinced him, when the only
“ tearing ” and “ violence ” in that remarkable scene — perhaps the
most remarkable in the whole literature — was in Mrs. Piper tear-
ing the successive sheets from the pad and thrusting them “ with
violence ” toward Howard. Such misrepresentations from a
single page put the general accuracy of the book under suspicion
— on the whole, undeserved, we think. These blunders are not
the only indication that the French absorption in teleplasm has
interfered with M. Richet’s giving dose attention to the sub-
jective phenomena.
He suggests (p. 772 and elsewhere) that between the sketchy
personages resulting from hypnotic suggestion, up to such marvel-
ously complete presentations from auto-suggestion, as he daims
George Pelham to be, the gradation is so gradual that no line can
be drawn, and that therefore they must be all of a piece. As we
indicate elsewhere, there is a line, and a very obvious one. The
A Review of Richet.
665
personations of the Pelham kind correspond with abundant veri-
fiable facts announced by themselves : the others correspond with
nothing but a few fancies of the hypnotize r and his subject.
In this connection M. Richet cites Imperator and Co. as pure
phantasies of Mrs. Piper. We thought so too until we found
them turning up through many other mediums who probably had
never heard of them, and with dramatic originalities which can-
not be ascribed to telepathy between the mediums.
On p. 777 he repeats the hackneyed objection that the alleged
denizens of a wider world have never told us anything worth
knowing — “ not a single step in geometry, in physics, in physi-
ology, even in metapsychics itself ... no unexpected discovery
has been indicated, no revelation has been made.” Is there any-
thing plainer than that we were put here to find out these things
for ourselves, to earn our bread, intellectual and moral as well as
physical, by the sweat of our faces, to evolve intellect and char-
acter by exercising them ? That evolution seems to be the purpose
and justification of our universe. To hand us down knowledge
gratuitously from a higher plane would be inconsistent with the
whole august process. If the broken messages shall ultimately
satisfy us that they come from a higher plane, that our departed
ones await us there, that it is a plane of fuller and higher activities
than this, and that upon our conduct here depends our fitness
there, we should not doubt the source of the messages because
we have been left to work out the other elements of our salvation
ourselves.
On p. 778 he expresses with great confidence (though on what
basis is not certain) the conviction that “ if a proof could be given
cf the survival of consciousness, that proof would be given.”
Many judges as capable as even he, think it has been.
P. 271. “ The dead who return are most often well-known
and illustrious persons. Why don’t the mediums incarnate com-
mon and unknown people ? ” They do — many more than the
other kind, my memory seems to indicate. The intimation to the
contrary is astounding.
“ It would be taking a risk (p. 271) to deny survival, but it’s
a thousand times more risky to assert it.” Men equally learned
and intelligent would put it just the other way.
He claims (p. 263) that as a rule, though with a few rare
666 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
exceptions, the differences between the alleged minds postcamate
and the same when incarnate, is so great as to be fatal to the idea
of survival. That certainly was not the case with G. P. and
Hodgson, both of whom were known intimately to the present
writer, and the assertion is backed by other friends of both ; and
one positive case holds more proof than a myriad abortive ones
hold disproof.
On pages 625 and 6 he says: “ Unfortunately for the spirit-
istic doctrine, proof is impossible, or at least so far has not been
accomplished . . . yet if one could photograph a phantom form
identical with that of a deceased individual,” etc., etc. What is
“ proof ” in court ? Is testimony never proof unless backed up by
a photograph? However, Mrs. Piper and others have recognized
photographs of personages whom they have known only as com-
municating in their trances.
He quotes (p. 283) from Home's Lights and Shadows of
Spiritualism a paradox perhaps worth repeating. Within an hour
after the death of Allan Kardec, a great apostle of spiritualism,
Home received from him in the presence of Lord Dunraven the
message: “ I regret having taught the spiritistic doctrine.” And
this as the message itself was demonstrating the doctrine! It
looks as if the message was the medium’s, not Kardec’s.
He claims (pp. 83-4, also 772) that because a hypnotic sug-
gestion can make a young girl act like an old woman, an auto-
suggestion can make Mrs. Piper act like George Pelham. He
leaves out the essential to the parallel that the hypnotic suggestion
should make the young girl act like a specific old woman, whom
she never knew, with her specific mannerisms and memories, and
recognize that old woman’s friends and call them by their names
and nicknames when they appear, and greet them with entire fit-
ness to their personalities and relations to herself. Yet Mrs. Piper
did this not only as G. P. but as scores, probably hundreds, of
other persons.
In M. Richet’s statement (p. 770) of the “ superstitions which
enfeeble the spiritistic hypothesis “ he gives one which would
be admitted by far from all supporters of that hypothesis:
“ Since man does not die, he cannot be bom . . . discamate in-
telligences incarnate themselves in infants who are to be bom.”
This is a purely gratuitous assumption contrary to the facts we
A Review of Richet.
667
know ; and to make holders of the spiritistic hypothesis generally
guilty of it, is inexcusable. True, in one sense, we cannot con-
ceive a beginning to anything : we have to assume as such some
step in a process of evolution that, so far as we can conceive, has
no beginning. A soul waiting to enter the infant’s body still
leaves the soul to be accounted for ; and we happen to know that
there is no such situation anyhow: for at our first glimpse of a
body, it already contains a soul: it is a spermatozoon with just
soul enough to wriggle it.
Yet despite this attack, M. Richet seems quite willing to admit
(p. 770) the possibility in the universe of intelligences other than
human, but none that have functioned through a brain no longer
existing. Yet he has not, nor has anybody else, a scintilla of evi-
dence of individual intelligence getting into the universe in any
other way. The long-prevalent notion that God created men that
he might enjoy their worship, is an anthropomorphic embodiment
of a broader idea which is more consistent with the beneficence we
see around us, and with what we actually know of the evolution
of the individual intelligence. We know that the spermatozoon
starts, as already said, with just intelligence enough to wriggle,
and that with its entrance into the ovum it enters upon a new
evolution. The most prominent sources of that evolution are a
stream of matter and a stream of motion constantly going
through the individual, and these two streams several respectable
thinkers have declared themselves unable to dissociate from a
stream of mind. The evolution is attended, though with inter-
ruptions, by happiness, and the very interruptions are sources of
education — of development, which makes possible more and
higher happiness; and happiness is the only rational reason yet
given for the evolution of human beings — given both in the old
anthropomorphic hypothesis that it is for God’s happiness, and in
the observed fact that it is for man's happiness.
Now that the august evolution should be contemptuously cast
to destruction by death seems, does it not? less congruous with
the power that caused it — that evolved " the starry heavens and
the mind of man ” — than that the evolution should not end.
And despite M. Richet’s dentals, many other best minds of the
age think that there is important and increasing evidence that it
does not end. If it does not, M. Richet’s spiritual world is pro-
668 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
vided with a cause. If it does end, that world is a purely gratu-
itous assumption, and either way, the author suiddally attacks the
only hypothesis which gives it a shadow of support
But with his fine candor, on page 267, in the thick of his
denials he says, (though he does not always live up to it) : “ Yet
in the midst of my negation, I hold my reserves. We are only at
the dawn of metapsychic science, and all definitive negation
should be proscribed.”
And after it all, he says (p. 788) “ Very different words,
very different beings are conceivable, where intelligence exists
without nerve-cells. It is said that ‘ no intelligence can manifest
without brain.' [He says it himself in this book, a score of
times.] Such is the astonishing logic of those whom we accuse
of doing work contrary to science.”
Despite some inconsistencies in the next three pages, we wish
we could quote them. We urge the reader to find time for them,
indeed for the thirty odd pages of his ** conclusion,” though in
our judgment it does not a little to tear down what in many less
mature years he had worked hard to build up, and to leave
nothing on the field but the spiritistic hypothesis which he had
tried so hard to clear away.
The book of course contains vastly more points tempting to
citation or comment than we have space for. We give a few
disjointed ones that have not fallen into connection with our dis-
cussion of its principal topics.
He gives the first intimation which we happen to know, that
thought transference is facilitated by connecting agent and per-
cipient with a wire.
On page 615 he says: “ Hallucination is one of those ridicu-
lous hypotheses which cannot hold in Metapsychics any more
than in other sciences. An observer is never hallucinated. . . .
If he sees a light, hears a noise, smells an odor, it is because
there is an objective phenomenon which causes a light, a noise,
an odor.” This is a strange declaration, especially in view of
his saying on page 620 that elongations " easily lead to error,”
and that one of Home’s elongations testified to, with many
others, by several observers, “ is far from being an authentic phe-
nomenon.” What else could it be, then, but an hallucination?
A Review of Richet.
669
And he is constantly speaking of things testified to by respectable
observers, as to be doubted until fresh proofs appear. In the
absence of such proofs, what are those things to be considered but
hallucinations ?
On p. 625 he says that unaccountable musical sounds and
lights are not established, but that materializations are. The
agreement of investigators with these statements will be far from
unanimous.
If we understand some passages on pp. 51-2, our author says
that mediums appear spontaneously in full force — are never devel-
oped. This seems strange: the literature abounds in accounts of
development, and of professional developers. Even Mrs. Piper,
as Hodgson tells in his first report ( Proceedings S. P. R., VIII)
was developed by a Dr. Cocke.
He rightly calls the word " psychometry ” “detestable” (p.
217) and suggests substituting “pragmatic kryptesthesia,” e.,
kryptesthesia as applied to things. The suggestion would be ex-
cellent if, in the English-speaking world at least, James and others
had not already preempted “ pragmatic,” for an entirely different
purpose.
He gives (p. 729) a case of a phantom seen by several per-
sons, which was not reflected in a mirror. This would seem a
demonstration of collective hallucination, and would go to explain
Home’s live coals and levitations and extensions and other in-
credible things given on high testimony.
He objects (p. 733) to crediting phantoms with intentions, as
anthropomorphic. Aren’t they anthropomorphic themselves ? He
is fond of using this word in connections strange and illegitimate
to those who have associated it only with conceptions regarding
the First Cause. And despite his opinions regarding phantoms,
he seems to accept the case (p. 732-3) of phantoms throwing off
bedclothes, and cites other cases of their doing things.
It seems a little late to find a man of his weight bringing up,
on p. 77 1 and elsewhere, the notion which has had so many first-
class funerals, that “ the brain secretes thought as the liver se-
cretes bile.” Probably it but illustrates the remote inception of
the book, and insufficiency of revision.
This review of the great work must leave untouched many
670 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
features deserving notice. In so large a book on a subject so
immense and so vague, and especially in a book whose creation
obviously extended over many years, during which changes of
opinion on such uncertain topics were inevitable — in such a book
any reviewer would inevitably find many points tempting to criti-
cism. To them we have felt free to give perhaps more attention
than we would have done if M. Richet were not so far beyond the
need of exposition or confirmation, not to speak of commenda-
tion. We should be very sorry, however, if in pursuing that
course we had given an inadequate idea of our admiration for
the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of the work. While
unable to agree with some of its most important opinions, or in
the proportions it has assigned to some of its most important
topics, we can heartily commend it as the most in^portant single
storehouse of the experience on the objective side of the subject
that, so far as we know, has yet been produced. And it is even
more heartily that we express our admiration for the serene, sin-
cere and sympathetic spirit which is perhaps the most beautiful
attainment of the author’s long and beneficent life.
>OQI
The Spirit Hypothesis.
671
THE SPIRIT HYPOTHESIS.
From an Article by Dr. Gustav Geley.
[The following extracts and summary are based upon an
article by Dr. Geley in a late issue of Revue MStapsychique criti-
cising Prof. RicheTs Treatise on Metapsychics. The translation
was made by Mr. J. W. Hayward. — Ed. ]
The conclusions of the magisterial Treatise on Metapsychics
can be summed up thus :
— certitude without reserve concerning' the reality of medium-
istic phenomena from second sight to ectoplasm.
— complete uncertitude on the subject of explanatory theories.
Without taking one side or the other definitely our Master
renounces, at least provisionally, the spirit hypothesis. He
charges that it is “ certainly premature and probably erroneous.”
His opinion is based upon arguments of principle and of fact and
it is necessary that we discuss these closely.
The arguments of principle are, evidently, the more powerful,
whereas the others have only a relative value.
Let us start by examining the former. These are two in
number:
I. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CONCEIVE OF THE HUMAN CON-
SCIOUSNESS AS INDEPENDENT OF THE BRAIN AND IT IS
IMPOSSIBLE TO CONCEIVE OF THE HUMAN MEMORY
OTHERWISE THAN AS CEREBRAL MEMORY.
These two propositions are demonstrated, says the Professor,
by clinical experience and physiological science.
Therefore, if, after death there remains anything of the Being
this can be nothing but a metaphysical body deprived of individ-
ual consciousness and of memory. From every point of view,
death is the end of the conscious personality.
The opinion of Professor Richet is strictly that of the classic
Psycho-physiology. It is this which has been taught, for almost a
century, in all the schools of Medicine and of Science. Let us
examine apart from all sentimentalism and from all philosophical
672 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
bias if it is really in accord with the facts, with all the facts of
physiology and psychology.
The basis, the sole basis upon which the classical theory rests
is the notion of Psycho-physiological parallelism. Until the pres-
ent time, in fact, this parallelism appeared imperative and beyond
discussion. It seemed well established that psychological activity
is strictly proportional to cerebral activity and requires the normal
functioning of nervous centers. The decay of the centers in old
age; every accident, every infection, every intoxication which af-
fects them, restricts or suppresses, it was believed, the psychic
activity in proportion to the extent or gravity of these processes.
Further, the faculties of the soul are related to distinct and defi-
nite parts of the brain.
Is this classic opinion tenable, today, in all points?
It would seem not. It appears to be established by the newly
discovered facts:
(A) That Psycho-physiological parallelism has not, even in
normal psychology, the exactitude, the invariability that has been
ascribed to it.
(B) That the larger part of psychical activity does not fol-
low the laws of Psycho-physiological parallelism.
It concerns us to demonstrate these statements.
The Psycho-physiological parallelism has not the exactitude
that has been ascribed to it.
Is it necessary to recall the first doubt thrown upon the theory
of cerebral localizations which promised so well a quarter of a
century ago? Is there need of citing the famous and relatively
frequent cases of extended lesions of the nervous centers, in the
regions considered as essential, unaccompanied by any serious
psychical trouble or any restriction of the personality ?
Let it suffice to recall the typical case published by Dr. Guepin
in March, 1917.
A young man, Louis R., now employed as a gardener near
Paris, had a considerable portion of his left cerebral hemisphere
(cortical matter, white matter, nervous centers) removed, and
yet he remained intellectually normal, in spite of the loss of con-
volutions regarded as the seats of essential functions.
Analogous cases, of which a number are now considered clas-
sical, have been extensively published.
The Spirit Hypothesis.
673
Wounds received during the war have furnished new and im-
portant examples (see No. 1 of the Revue Metapsychique. )
Dr. Troude, who has made a special study of a case, does not
shrink from concluding his report with the following lines, which
we reprint :
"If the theory of localization becomes daily more difficult to
defend, it is not less certain that it drags down with it, in its fall,
the thesis of strict parallelism. If it remains still possible — but
unhappily undemonstrable — that every psychical phenomenon cor-
responds to a cerebral change one can no longer insist that every
cerebral change brings about a psychical phenomenon, and in any
case one has no longer the right to contend that every loss of brain
cells involves a psychological loss. At the same time it is neces-
sary to renounce once for all, as was foreseen by Mr. Bergson in
1897, the hypothesis that the brain is the storehouse of memory
records and to try some other theory regarding the nature of its
role in the process of the act of memory. Far from being the in-
dispensable condition of thought the brain would appear to do
nothing but translate it into matter, express it in pantomime, so
to speak.”
Without doubt these ideas regarding the relation of brain to
thought are not new. But that which is new and characteristic is
to see them sustained today not only by the philosophers but also
by physiologists and doctors; based no longer upon metaphysical
hypotheses but upon facts.
Granted, one may say, that the parallelism is not absolutely
invariable. The theory of localization admits of exceptions. But
they are only exceptions. The rule holds good, and this rule is
that psychical activity is controlled by the activity of the nerve
centers.
Not at all. That used to appear to be a rule. Our present
knowledge of psychology has forced us to change our opinion
about it.
(B) The larger part of psychical activity does not follow the
law of Psycho-physiological parallelism.
This proposition is not fantastic; it is the result of a rigorous
demonstration based upon facts.
It is at least the thesis which I have for a long time main-
674 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
tained in my books : L’Etre Subconscient and De I'lnconscient au
Conscient. My demonstration may be summed up thus :
The psychic individual is not comprised solely, as was thought
until recently, in normal psychism, — that which appears, in the
ordinary mental life, as the thinking Individuality.
In reality, the thinking Individuality is infinitely more vast.
It is revealed not only by normal consciousness but also by most
extensive subconscious thought and subconscious memory. The
personality normally conscious is then only a fraction, a very small
fraction, of the thinking Individuality.
This last is the real Being, while the first is only the apparent
Being since it is limited by the cerebral conditions.
The greater part of the real Being remains subconscious in
normal life, nevertheless it always plays an extremely active, a
preponderating part
But, that preponderant and subconscious portion of the think-
ing Individuality is totally at variance with psycho-physiological
parallelism.
It is equally true, whether we speak of the subconscious
termed normal, which reveals itself in inspiration, intuition and
genius, or of the subconscious termed supernormal which is re-
vealed in “ Metapsychism.”
— As regards the first: There is no relation between its power
and its extent, on the one hand, and the development of the brain,
heredity, and sensorial or intellectual acquisitions, on the other
hand.
There is no relation between its specific activity and cerebral
activity. The subconscious manifests itself apart from all work
and all effort, sometimes during sleep.
— As regards the second: The absence of parallelism is com-
pletely evident.
There is no psycho-anatomical parallelism, since dynamic,
sensorial and psychic activities can be proved to take place apart
even from the organism by a true exteriorization.
There is no psycho-physiological parallelism, since the
“ trance ” during which the supernormal subconsciousness mani-
fests itself in all its power, is a kind of annihilation of activity of
the nerve centers, extending sometimes to veritable coma !
Where do we find a trace of parallelism in vision at a distance.
The Spirit Hypothesis.
675
in spite of intervening material obstacles and apart from the chan-
nels of sense? In telepathy, independent of all the contingencies
which limit the sensorial perceptions ? In second sight ?
[Here, in the original article, follows an extension of the
argument, based upon Dr. Geley’s well-known conclusions regard-
ing the reality of ectoplasm .]
The phenomena of subconsciousness are equally opposed to the
classical notion according to which there is no other memory than
cerebral memory. Cerebral memory, we know, is limited, treach-
erous, fleeting. It retains only a slender portion of the past im-
pressions of the mind. The greater part of those impressions
seem lost. But, in subconscious states, one sees a quite different
memory appear, infinitely vast, faithful and profound. One per-
ceives then, that all that which has taken place in the psychic field
lives on in this subconscious memory, complete and indestructible.
In spite of the great length of time since the receipt of some
particular impression ; in spite of the fact that this impression, in
normal life, appears lost for ever; in spite of the fact that the
brain cells which registered this impression have been renewed
many times : the lost memory can reappear in its entirety in sub-
conscious states.
Examples of this prodigious cryptomnesia are today innumer-
able. They prove that besides cerebral memory, connected di-
rectly with vibrations of the brain cells, there exists a subcon-
scious memory independent of all cerebral restrictions. Then
memory, like consciousness, is double.
There is a consciousness and a memory associated directly
with functioning of the nerve centers; these constitute only a
limited portion of the thinking Individuality.
But there is also a Consciousness and a memory independent
of the brain. This constitutes the major part of the thinking
Individuality ; that part which is not limited by the bounds of the
organism and which, consequently, may exist before it and sur-
vive after it.
Death, instead of being the end of the thinking Individuality,
may, on the contrary, deliver it from cerebral limitations and be
the starting point of its expansion.
All these inductions, I cannot too often declare, are not meta-
physical postulates. They are based upon proved facts. The
676 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
reasoning which supports them is strictly rational and its refuta-
tion has never been attempted.
Then, one may say, you consider that the truth of the spirit
hyopthesis is demonstrated in metapsychics?
No, I say simply that this hypothesis is scientifically defens-
ible. The study of subconscious and metapsychical phenomena
demonstrates that the organo-centric conception is false. Conse-
quently, the first and most formidable philosophical objection to
the idea of survival is on the scrap heap.
Let us pass to the second :
II. IT IS POSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN ALL MEDIUMSHIP WITHOUT
HAVING RECOURSE TO THE SPIRIT HYPOTHESIS.
It is clear, as I have already said, that, if one ascribes to the
medium subconscious thought and subconscious memory, telep-
athy, clairvoyance, and second sight, and complex ideoplastic and
teleplastic powers of exteriorization, then, to be sure, everything
is explained. * * *
[Of course, the references to ideoplasty and teleplasty are not
necessary to the argument in dealing with persons who are not
convinced that the phenomena to which the terms apply are super-
normal, but they are fitly used in an argument against Prof.
Richet, who is com-inccd of the phenomena as supernormal,
though not of their spiritistic implications. On the mental side
Dr. Geley could have added that to account for the evidence on
the basis of the subconscious powers it might be necessary to
ascribe to the subconscious a purposive, selective, collaborating
and world-embracing telepathy, and even prevision.]
But it is indispensable to attribute to the subconscious un-
equivocally the entire mass of these remarkable capacities. One
is compelled, willy nilly, to return to the opinion of Von Hart-
mann, who believed that our subconscious instinct is God
Almighty. * * *
[Dr. Geley admits that it is possible to conceive of the sub-
conscious as the possessor of these enormous potencies, and that
with this conception, all the effects within the purview of psych-
ical research of course logically follow.]
But if one admits the omnipotence of metapsychical creative
forces one is led to most amazing consequences. It becomes pos-
The Spirit Hypothesis.
6 77
sible, for instance, to assign to the manifestation of their power
the very existence of any human being whatsoever, as well as of a
simple phantom. Who knows if we are not all, such as we are,
temporary appearances, phantoms without reality and without
permanence, ideoplastic products issuing from an obscure caprice
of the universal subconsciousness? * * *
[After an amusing and clever illustration, acting as an argu-
mentum ad absurdum, the writer continues.]
It is quite true that it is impossible to prove, scientifically, the
real existence of any person whatever, whether it be a second rate
reporter or a learned professor.
Why then are we certain of that existence?
Solely through common sense.
It is not a question of science in such a case; it is a question
of common sense. Well, I think it is time, when one is attempting
to define mediumistic entities, to leave somewhat on one side tran-
scendental reasoning, and the hypotheses of advanced metaphys-
ics, and to appeal rather more widely than heretofore, to common
sense. I would say (and this is my deliberate judgment) that as
soon as a sufficient number of entities shall have given proofs of
their real existence as clear as those furnished by Raymond.
Estelle Livermore, or George Pelham, then, in the name of com-
mon sense, one will be able to consider their statements sufficiently
established.
Doubtless that day, if it should ever come, is a long way off.
There is nothing to be surprised at in that, say the spirits; the
rareness of really good posthumous manifestations is accounted
for by their extreme difficulty.
There is nothing illogical in this explanation.
In fact, let us assume for a moment, by way of hypothesis
(that is always allowable and legitimate), the existence of spirits.
Let us suppose that the so-called dead, although deprived of the
material organism and of vital force, are, however, alive and in
full possession of their consciousness and memory. One would
expect these spirits to wish to communicate with relatives and
friends left upon the earth and to prove that they still live.
How can it be done ? It would be impossible if there were not
among living people some persons provided with a most excep-
tional organism, the mediums. Mediums have a peculiar gift, a
678 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
source for them of endless eccentricities and troubles : but a most
precious gift from our point of view. Instead of being strictly
centralized like normal people, they are subject to a continual
process of decentralization. This tendency to decentralization
considerably diminishes the control of the individual over his
brain, his body and his vital force. Hence from time to time
partial exteriorizations, intellectual, dynamic or material. Hence
the doubling of the psychical or physical personality, actions at a
distance and ectoplasm. Hence also the most varied subconscious
manifestations.
The spirits (in our hypothesis) have found, through this fact,
a means of establishing communication with living people. They
borrow from these special beings, the mediums, the dynamic and
material elements thrown off by them during metapsychical de-
centralization. They thus acquire the power of acting “ on the
physical plane ” as theosophists call it
Without doubt this action will be difficult, intermittent, frag-
mentary. The conditions of a good communication will be very
complex and rarely favorable. The use of a strange organism, to
which they are unaccustomed, will prove extremely inconvenient.
The habits of thought and action of the medium will have traced
upon the elements which he lends them an imprint to which the
“ spirit ” must adapt itself and which will distort, or adulterate,
its communications yielding an inextricable mixture of the
products of its mentality and of the products of the mentality of
the medium. That is not all : the mentality of the observers intro-
duces also a perturbing or parasitic effect, for the results of meta-
psychical experiments always contain a collective element.
Finally and above all, the sole fact for a “ spirit ” whilst un-
dergoing this kind of “ momentary and relative incarnation ” is
action upon the physical plane. That fact must be accompanied,
to a greater or less degree, but always to a fatal extent, by obliv-
ion. The being will be brought back, inevitably, to the conditions
which characterized it during its life and especially during its last
years. It will manifest itself not such as it is, but such as it was.
It will give out chiefly, and more or less accurately, its terrestrial
memories, but it will have forgotten everything about its actual
existence. All that it says about that, with a few exceptions or
sparks of truth, will be pure invention, or else it will simply con-
The Spirit Hypothesis.
679
form to that which it believed when alive, with the thoughts of a
materially incarnate being . . . So-called revelations are usually
the result of a passing illusion ; now and then of a direct lie.
I do not say that things happen thus. I say that, logically, if
one admits the spirit hypothesis, they cannot happen otherwise.
Indeed all these rational deductions from the “ survival ”
hypothesis and from our statements concerning the mechanism of
mediumship, every one of them, we see exactly realized in the
manifestations, both physical and mental, which occur at meta-
psychical seances. The mixture of “ animism ” and “ spiritism ”
or their alternating predominance is thus explained without
difficulty.
Therefore none of the arguments against survival : the frag-
mentary character and incompleteness of the communications ;
the inclusion of elements which certainly originate in the medium ;
banalities, contradictions, errors or untruths; rareness of mes-
sages of a high character; absence of scientific, even of meta-
psychical acquirements, etc, etc, , . . not one of these argu-
ments is truly decisive.
If there are communications between the living and the dead,
these communications cannot be different, under actual conditions,
from those which we are witnessing.
Hence, let us acknowledge it freely, the spirit hypothesis is
doubtless (and here I am in complete accord with Professor
Richet) “ premature ” ; but it seems to me unfair to add “ prob-
ably erroneous.” In reality, we know nothing about it.
It belongs to the future, with its more extended research, to
show whether the laws of probability are in favor of this hypothe-
sis or against it.
That nine-tenths of so-called spirit communication is nothing
but the product, and generally the very inferior product, of disin-
tegration in the subconscious mind of a medium is beyond doubt
for anyone who studies the subject with a grain of critical sense.
The exasperating pretentious silliness of some of these pseudo-
spiritual lucubrations is beyond comparison.
But this elimination made, and made as complete as possible,
there remain some really difficult cases the conscientious investi-
gator hesitates about, not knowing what to think, and not yet
daring to form a definite conclusion.
680 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
One must admit also, from now on, that the spirits can present
a good case.
" What is extraordinary,” they say, for example, “ is not that
we appear so weak and unreliable in mediumistic communications.
It is, on the contrary, that we have already, here and there, ob-
tained remarkable results, in spite of the difficulties inherent to
mediumship and to the establishment of relations between the
living and the dead.”
“ The latter seem truly to exhibit an amazing ingenuity in
surmounting difficulties and obstacles.”
" Proofs of identity, sometimes so striking, cross-correspond-
ences, book tests and newspaper tests, in the intellectual field ; the
complexity and perfection of certain materializations, in the field
of physical phenomena, bear sufficient witness to that.
“ Throughout all the mediumistic phenomena which have oc-
curred during the last half century, there can be clearly traced one
leading principle, a principle which aims at surmounting all ob-
stacles and seems to have but one end in view: The proof of
survival."
“ This sole fact of persistent and concordant effort, always
turned in the same direction, gives cause for profound reflection.”
"If the medium and sitters themselves really create the phe-
nomena of the seance, why do observers opposed to the spirit
theory never get a communication denying survival ? If spiritism
is a lie, why this perpetual lying? ”
“ The phenomena adapt themselves, to a limited extent, to the
wishes of the sitters, but to a limited extent only.”
“ All attempts to obtain a particular physical or mental phe-
nomenon. which one wants, miscarry. At the best seances, one
gets clearly the impression of a directing intelligence quite differ-
ent from that of the medium or the sitters.”
One cannot deny the force of such argument.
Once the theoretical objections to the spirit hypothesis are re-
moved, the facts of the case ought to be examined simply in a
commonsense way.
But what does common sense teach us ? This : for most of the
mental phenomena of mediumship the spirit hypothesis appears
inadmissible. Professor Richet has been perfectly right in dis-
counting them.
The Spirit Hypothesis.
681
But, in a few cases, it seems truly, whether we wish it or not,
to coincide with the evidence. * * *
[Dr. Geley here discusses certain cases adduced by M. Flour-
noy, in which he concludes that the mathematical probability
against mere coincidence is overwhelming, and the spirit hypothe-
sis is the simplest .]
You will say, perhaps, that a mathematical probability is not
sufficient, one ought to be quite certain.
I agree to this extent with Professor Richet : such certainty,
the result of absolute proof, can hardly be hoped for.
It is as impossible to prove scientifically the real existence of
a “ discamate ” person as it is to prove scientifically the existence
of a living person.
Let us take another concrete example :
Suppose we imagine a man “ reported missing ” in the great
war returning to his own country at the end of twenty years.
Officially he would be dead. Parents and friends would believe
him to be so. His heirs would have divided his estate.
How will this " live ghost ” endeavor to prove his identity?
By his identification disc which he may have kept? That is
not authentic: such a disc might have been stolen or forged.
By the physical resemblance between himself and the man who
disappeared ?
That is very doubtful : one changes a great deal and one for-
gets a great deal in twenty years.
Many of the people whom he might call as witnesses would
hesitate to express an opinion and there will be some to whose
interest it would be to perjure themselves. In any case the matter
would have to be debated and doubt cast upon the issue in
consequence.
Will a trial at law settle the question? Hardly. Experts are
fallible and often do not agree among themselves. The means of
proof at their disposal (handwriting, photographs, common habits
and appearance, etc. ) cannot establish absolute certainty.
In brief the court will render a decision based upon a calcula-
tion of probability and not upon a scientific proof.
In the exceptional case where the man who disappeared had
been catalogued according to the “ Bertillon ’’ system before he
went to the war, there would be an additional piece of evidence
682 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
of the very highest value. The identity of finger prints, added to
all the other proofs, would be decisive beyond doubt.
Let us now suppose that the returning one, instead of being a
soldier who disappeared in the war, is a true “ revenant,” a spirit.
It is clear that he will not be able to give more complete proof of
his identity in this case than in the former one.
But it will be much more difficult to convince the Court of
Metapsychics than the Common Court.
Even identification by finger prints it might not consider a
sufficient proof, for it will say that the identity may be explained
by the cryptesthesia, combined with second sight, of the medium.
Ah well : I repeat that there ought to be a reasonable limit to
suspicion and doubt and that limit should be set by the light of
common sense. * * *
The Society's Work, Where and Whither J
683
THE SOCIETY’S WORK, WHERE AND WHITHER?
By Miles Menander Dawson, LL.D.
It is often desirable, and for none more so than for the man
of science, to stop and take stock and, having clearly ascertained
all that has been gained, consider what may, with good prospects,
be next essayed.
Surely in no branch of research may this better be done than
in psychical and in no land better than in our own, now that the
founder of this Society is withdrawn.
What, then, has been done? And what is now to do?
One great change which Professor Hyslop effected may be
thus summarized: He found psychical research in the United
States a sensational thing, attracting much attention, but, save by
very few, little regarded; he left it a relatively dull thing but
already respectable and on the way to become respected.
The very thing which was so hard for us who were already
both interested and expectant, to bear, that is, his publication of
tons of unabbreviated records, mostly of wholly indifferent phe-
nomena, slowly brought to him, with all the ridicule from the un-
thinking and from the impatient, confidence in his integrity of
purpose and of reasoning.
This work has been done so well, however, that, before he
quitted us, he had turned his thought and pen to the clear exposi-
tion of things that seemed to him ready for safe generalizations ;
and his contributions to the numbers of the Journal within the
five years just previous to his death are admirable examples of
what can be said, clearly and briefly, even upon an abstruse, diffi-
cult and as yet little explored subject, when one has labored upon
it long, hard and honestly. Yet he was too busy, too many-sided
and withal much too modest, to summarize for us what he thought
he had achieved.
In our not too frequent talks together, what both said, rather
than what either said, upon this subject, came about to this :
The psychical scientist may surely take it as established that
genuine phenomena of pretty much every sort that has been as-
684 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
serted, do occur; and that most of them may, under favorable
conditions, be induced by patient experimentation. The talk that
it can all be explained away as the result of imposition and fraud,
and that persons who credit the evidences of their senses, are
dupes, weak-minded and deficient in powers of observation, may
be disregarded. The evidence is overwhelming that the contrary
is true ; and the ignorance of the man who repeats this old, long-
ago-exposed charge is to be smiled at, instead of the guileless
credulity of psychical scientists, which simply does not exist.
This, then, may be taken as known, that there are genuine
phenomena deserving careful investigation, which have been iso-
lated by patient, competent men, filled with the scientific spirit,
withholding judgment, determined to eliminate conscious or even
unconscious fraud as a possible source of that which they have
witnessed — eager only for the truth, no matter what it prove or
disprove.
Professor Hyslop, in our talks in his last years, said again
and again that the time is near for correlation of the observed and
recorded facts, to the end that induction may support whatever
conclusions are reached.
How much of this has been done?
Not very much as yet. The spiritistic interpretation of the
phenomena, to be sure, has a very large body of verified facts that
apparently admit of no other adequate explanation; they have
been convincing to fearless, thorough and open-minded investi-
gators such as Myers, Hodgson and Hyslop. Yet they left Pod-
more incredulous, and James not persuaded ; they have not yet the
finality of complete demonstration.
Perhaps it is well they have not, except to the most pro-
found students: for others, when convinced of spirit communi-
cation, have often become easy victims of charlatans, because
they ignored the continual necessity for the greatest care and
circumspection.
But psychical research has before it the task to isolate the
causes of psychical phenomena by comparing very closely such as
seem much alike, and observing their significant differences.
As regards psychometry, or what poses is such, being a cer-
tain clairvoyance concerning character and even concerning ap-
pearance and past or contemporaneous activities — often, even
The Society s Work, Where and Whither 7
685
usually induced, apparently, by the presence of articles closely
associated with a given person ; why cannot this be tried out by
synchronous experiments through sitters who do not know the
persons to whom the objects belong, records being kept by the
individuals whose articles are presented of their movements and
activities at the hours decided upon ? And why may not experi-
ments be made with hypnotized subjects to ascertain to what
extent such phenomena may thus be caused ?
And as regards the identity of phenomena that are self-styled
mediumistic, with telepathic phenomena, why might not an ex-
haustive comparison be instituted, in the course of which earnest
effort would be made by repeated experiments to duplicate, by
purely telepathic means the phenomena which are encountered in
mediumship? A start could easily be made by dealing with the
simpler phenomena, with those that are already very nearly alike.
A wider field, it may be, is the almost unexplored territory of
phenomena which would best be explained by mind-reading, that
is, active, mental penetration, instead of the purely passive atti-
tude of the typical telepathic percipient. Much is said of the posi-
tive message-sender and the passive receiver in telepathy, little of
the active, restless explorer in mind-reading, like the antenna of
the wireless, seeking what it may discover, and the records of
thoughts long ago discarded and forgotten which it may seem to
search through and through, or the records of the dim past which
it may seem to recover or to revive. May it not be that compara-
tive studies, distinguishing — or identifying — mind-reading and
the pronouncements of alleged communications through mediums,
would shed much light upon both?
Painstaking and extended study of the difficulties encountered
in educing the phenomena with a comparison and weighing of
the explanations offered by various alleged communicators, guides
and mediums might clarify some matters which are now obscure
though they ought to be plain, and relegate some explanations
to limbo.
Because the assertion is sometimes made that communications
cannot be from the discamate, since they are so often trivial, as
well as for other reasons, a comprehensive collection of the great
sayings alleged to have been so made would be of the highest
value. It is little known how many, from the days of the earliest
686 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
prophets and sages, of the poems, sayings and even entire books
that mankind most highly esteems, were, by their putative auth-
ors, wholly ascribed to the inspiration of discamate intelligences.
This is a research task, in the strict sense of the term ; yet it would
also be linked with contemporary investigation, for this phenome-
non is yet taking place, constantly.
>0*1
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed.
687
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA RECENTLY OBSERVED
WITH THE MEDIUM WILLY SCH. AT MUNICH.
By E. J. Dingwall, M.A.
[Note. — By permission the following very important report
by Mr. E. J. Dingwall, Research Officer of the English S. P. R.,
and late Director of the Department of Physical Phenomena in
the A. S. P. R., is reprinted from the English Journal of October.
It narrates what took place in a few sittings held with the
Austrian medium, Willy Sch., in Munich, at which, by the imita-
tion of Baron von Sckrenck-Notzing, Messrs. Dingwall and
Harry Price were present. The report is that, although a control
of almost unprecedented rigor was maintained over the medium,
results were obtained which, in the opinion of these extremely
cautious and amply qualified witnesses, “ it is reasonable to sup-
pose ” were " in reality caused by supernormal agencies." — Ed.]
We left London on Sunday morning, May 28th, and arrived
the next day in Munich, the first seance being arranged for the
same evening. Before dealing with the phenomena we observed,
permit me to tell you something about the medium and the general
conditions. Sitting merely as privileged guests we made no elab-
orate investigations of any kind. All we did was to try to assure
ourselves of the nature of the phenomena presented, by confining
our attention to those conditions which seemed to us the most
important.
The medium, Willy Sch., is a young Austrian of about 18
years of age; one of a large family, he was bom in a small
frontier town near Simbach and is of humble origin. He first
claimed the attention of Baron von Schrenck in 1919, and some
of his early efforts in teleplastic mediumship are illustrated in
the English translation of the “ Phenomena of Materialisation "
in figures 221-225. Besides the appearance of teleplasm, other
phenomena soon commenced, including telekinesis, and Baron von
Schrenck, seeing the importance of the manifestations, resolved
to try to remove Willy from his rather unsatisfactory surround-
688 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ings and take him to Munich. In this he was fortunately success-
ful, Willy having been in Munich since October 3rd, 1921 ; and
being now apprenticed to i Munich dentist, he gives about two
sittings per week in the Baron’s own laboratory. Here he has
given nearly 60 seances from October, 1921, to the end of June.
1922. Amongst the sitters have been 27 German university pro-
fessors, 18 doctors and 16 other savants. Some of these savants
have attended 16 to 30 sittings, and in 60 seances only 3 have been
negative. Not one of these 90 persons hitherto invited has put
forward the supposition that the medium is in any way normally
responsible for the phenomena. The medium himself is of mod-
erate height, slim, dark, and of average intelligence. He is very
fond of outdoor sports and I was assured by Baron von Schrenck
that he is so far normal in almost every respect. The seance room
is the Baron's own private laboratory of which we have a diagram
here reproduced from his work on materialization. The door P.
leads to the passage and washing basins. This door is of oak,
opens inwards and has a turn bolt on the inside besides a lock.
The room below is part of the kitchen, whilst that above is a
drawing room. The back wall is an outside wall looking on the
passage leading to a side entrance of the house. The door A. leads
to an ante-room where the sitters assemble before and after the
sittings, which has itself two doors, one to the passage and so to
the other parts of the house, and the other to Baron von
Schrenck’s study, where the dressing of the medium takes place.
Let me now briefly describe the general conditions so that you
will be able better to appreciate the phenomena when I come to
describe them. The medium and sitters, who number usually
anything from six to ten, gather in the ante-room before each
sitting. At the appointed time Dr. von Schrenck takes the per-
sons who are to assist at the fore-control of the medium into his
study, where the medium’s black tights, dressing-gown and slip-
pers are examined. The gown and slippers are Dr. von Schrenck’s
own, the former being worn only on account of the medium com-
plaining of cold during the seances. After the examination is
completed Willy enters, and having undressed, puts on the tights,
which are in one piece, buttoning up the back. Then accompanied
by the controllers the medium enters the seance room and takes
his place to the right of the room in front of the cabinet at about
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed.
689
the spot indicated on the plan. This cabinet is not used for the
sittings, being the one formerly employed in the Eva C. and other
experiments. The control is of the simplest and most efficient
character. Indeed it may be said that in no case of physical me-
dium ship has such a control been before attempted with success.
Fortunately for Baron von Schrenck the medium demands a rigid
control, and as in the demonstration sittings we attended the ex-
trusion of teleplasm formed no part, an elaborate and minute
searching was avoided at every sitting, thus considerably simpli-
fying an already easy task. The medium sits with his back to the
cabinet at about three and a half feet from the curtains. Opposite
to him sits one of the controllers who holds both hands and either
extends his legs so as to form a barrier between the medium’s
legs and the circle, or places his feet on those of the medium. A
second controller sits facing the circle and at right angles to Willy.
He holds the medium’s wrists or lower parts of the arms, whilst
slipped over the sleeve of the tights, just above the wrists, are
luminous bracelets which enable the circle to see the position of
the medium’s arms at any time. In addition to these measures the
arm of the medium on the side opposite to the circle is outlined by
luminous pins so that every movement can be seen distinctly from
any part of the room. The doors having been locked the observ-
ers now take their seats in a horse-shoe formation, Baron von
Schrenck occupying the chair at the end of the circle away from
Willy where he has control of the apparatus and light regulator.
The sitters join hands, the one next Willy’s controller keeping
either contact with the shoulder or knee or actually holding the
controller’s arm. Thus the only hand free in the circle is Baron
von Schrenck’s left, so that there is in reality a sort of partial
control of the circle as well as of the medium. Lighting is ob-
tained from the red electric lamps hanging in a chandelier over the
side of the circle, remote from the medium and shaded by a piece
of cardboard. The light is rather poor, but sufficient to see a
white handkerchief lying on the ground at about three feet from
the observers. When everything is ready the white light is put
out, the red turned on and the seance commences.
Willy is not hypnotized but falls spontaneously into a trance
a few minutes after the white light is turned out. The trance
itself is of varying depths, being at first light and only occasion-
690 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
ally being very deep. The head falls forward, the hands offer no
resistance, and the feet remain still ; occasionally jerks and twists
of the arms which often occur while phenomena are in progress
are experienced, but I am not aware that any detailed physiolog-
ical investigations have been carried out as yet. During the
trance condition Willy usually speaks in a half whisper, controlled
by a personality calling herself “ Minna”; thus it is Minna to
whom questions are addressed and who gives instructions as to
when the red light is to be increased or diminished.
In order to describe to you the phenomena we observed I shall
take each sitting separately, and at the risk of some repetition
try to give you a vivid idea of the seances.
At the first sitting, besides Baron von Schrenck, his wife and
ourselves, there were present the Baron's son and his wife. Gen-
eral Peter and Herr Bartels, an artist. We were both present at
the fore-control, and Baron von Schrenck asked me to hold the
hands of the medium during the first part. I therefore sat oppo-
site the medium controlling his hands and placing my stockinged
feet upon his, whilst General Peter controlled the wrists. The
luminous bracelets and pins having been put on by the Baron, the
lights were turned out and the seance began. The medium, how-
ever, being unused to me, and possibly imagining that my attitude
was hostile, did not go into trance, and nothing occurred. After
a short interval the sitting continued, the Baron’s daughter-in-law
taking my place as controller. Before describing the resulting
phenomena I digress a moment to describe to you the method
adopted by Dr. von Schrenck in order to isolate the objects to be
moved. He employs a cage made of black gauze of close mesh
mounted on a black wooden framework. It measures roughly 5
feet high, 2 feet 2 inches wide and 3 feet 1 inch deep. There is no
separate floor, the sides and ends being brought flush with the
carpet, whilst over the top is flung a sheet of black cloth. One
end is really a door swinging on linen hinges and, when shut, con-
nected to the main framework with staples and padlocks. In the
door, extending practically from side to side, is an opening in the
gauze about 5 ]/i or 6 inches in depth. This gauze cage is placed
in the circle, the end containing the opening away from the sit-
ters and opposite the curtains of the main cabinet, the side nearest
the medium being usually about 3 feet distant from him. Within
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed.
691
this gauze framework was placed a heavy four-legged oblong
oaken table, weighing approximately 33 pounds and having a
large luminous triangle of paper attached to its surface towards
that end facing the circle Before the sitting now under consider-
ation this table had been placed in the gauze enclosure, and now
W 6 FT.
PLAN OF SfiANCE ROOM.
A. Door to ante-room.
C. Controllers.
M. Medium.
P. Door to passage.
W. Windows, shuttered and curtained.
during the second part a rustling was heard near the table as if the
gauze walls were being brushed over with a feather duster. Then
some raps were heard on the table and it began to creak and move
slightly, finally rising once or twice on what were presumably the
two back legs, and then coming down with a loud thud on the
carpet. Dr. von Schrenck then placed through the slit in the
gauze a clockwork musical box on the table at the back near the
C«oo&k
692 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
gauze door. We had previously examined this instrument and
found it of ordinary construction and apparently quite unpre-
pared. A small projecting and easily movable lever started and
stopped the mechanism, whilst winding was accomplished by a
longer lever with a lateral movement, an operation requiring two
hands, since the spring was too strong to allow of its being wound
up without a downward pressure being exerted at the same time
on the top of the box. This apparatus, without being fully
wound, was placed on the table and after a few moments it began
to play. Dr. von Schrenck then said that it would stop if asked
to do so, and thereupon several of the sitters, including ourselves
tried the experiment, the result being that the box in every case
obeyed the commands given by the sitters. A small hand-bell
with a luminous band round the lower part of the handle was
placed by Dr. von Schrenck near the curtains of the cabinet and
about two feet from the medium. In a few moments it was seen
to move and the luminous band was now and then obscured as if
some solid object were handling it. Soon it rose vertically into
the air to the height of, I should say, three and a half to four
feet and remained suspended, then began to swing from side to
side, ringing loudly, being finally thrown towards the sitters,
falling close to my chair. This ended the second part, and we all,
including the medium, adjourned to the ante-room for general
conversation.
For the third part a new arrangement of the seance room was
made by Baron von Schrenck. The gauze cage was removed and
about one and a half feet from the curtains of the cabinet, equi-
distant from either end, was placed a small low table upon which
was a heavily shaded red electric lamp. The light was such that
a hand placed near it could be clearly seen when in a line with the
lamp, and the downward rays from the lamp enabled us to see the
surface of a small low wicker table, upon which was laid a sheet
of luminous cardboard and a luminous bracelet, which was placed
near the centre lamp. This small table was at least four feet from
the medium, the bracelet being placed on the side of the table
nearest to him. The table soon began to tilt and was then com-
pletely levitated to the height of about a foot, finally falling to the
floor. This being again placed in position, the bracelet was sud-
denly twisted to the ground and then rose in the air and floated
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed . 693
about at the height of anything from one to three feet. It was
noticeable how when being levitated, a part or parts of the brace-
let were obscured, showing that something had hold of it and
was responsible for its movements.
Another experiment was attempted which also proved exceed-
ingly successful. The Baron placed a white handkerchief on the
ground near the back curtains and almost opposite the lamp. It
was soon seen to move on the floor and then rose up as if sup-
ported by two fingers, remaining suspended for a few seconds,
directly behind the lamp and dearly visible. Bobbing up and
down rapidly several times it finally collapsed on the carpet.
There then appeared in the neighborhood of the medium a
luminous arm-like shape with a tapering point. The other ob-
servers said that this was an arm and hand, claiming to see the
fingers, but neither of us were able to see this clearly either at this
seance nor at the succeeding ones. After the disappearance of the
hand the medium again went into Dr. von Schrenck’s study for
the post-control at which we were present and which proved
satisfactory.
At the conclusion of the sitting, and after having left Dr. von
Schrenck, we discussed the phenomena and found that we agreed
fully that the medium could not possihly have produced normally
the effects we had observed, and secondly, that if produced fraud-
ulently a confederate must be assumed to be responsible. The
possibility of a confederate was further strengthened on account
of the nature of the phenomena. Certain manifestations that we
witnessed were strongly suggestive of what confederacy of a
certain kind might accomplish, and although it appeared incon-
ceivable that under the conditions obtaining at the seance a
confederate could gain entrance and produce fraudulent phe-
nomena in Baron von Schrenck’s own laboratory, we determined,
in order to meet criticism, to make a thorough examination of the
seance room should the Baron permit us to do so. Accordingly,
on the morning of May 31st, we visited Dr. von Schrenck, and he
immediately gave permission, although with some amusement,
which we all shared, for a thorough inspection of the room The
cabinet was first taken down and the walls behind examined.
They were very dusty, and evidently the cabinet, being a fixture,
had not been disturbed for some time. The pictures were still on
694 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
the walls, and the space behind each was examined. The rooms
adjacent to the seance room were then visited, the walls, ceilings
and floors inspected without finding anything which gave rise to
the slightest suspicion.
For the next sitting, therefore, we asked merely for two
favors. The first was that the door P. should be bolted, locked,
sealed and signed by ourselves, and secondly, that one of us should
be allowed to remain in the seance room from the time that the
seance room was opened until the end. This was readily agreed
to, and at the appointed time the same day the sitters assembled
in the ante-room. They comprised ourselves and the Baron, the
Prince and Princess of Parma, Professor Zimmer, Professor
Gruber and Dr. Lebrecht. We first went into the seance room,
sealed the door and examined everything again. Mr. Price
stayed in the room whilst Baron von Schrenck, Willy, one of the
sitters and myself went into the study for the fore-control. As
on this occasion I had asked the Baron to blacken the handle of
the bell, particular attention was paid to the question whether any
patch of black was observable on the medium before the sitting.
He having washed his hands under our supervision, the tights
were put on and we all went into the seance room. The medium
made no objection to my controlling his hands, Professor Gruber
holding his wrists. The luminous bracelets, pins and general ar-
rangement were as before ; the lights being out, the medium went
into trance almost at once, his head hanging down almost into my
lap. After what seemed only a few minutes rustlings were heard
in the gauze cage and the whole structure was pulled round
towards the medium. The large table then began to rise and
thump on the floor, and the movements were so violent that the
control declared that a rent had been made in the gauze, which
was later found to be the case. Loud raps sounded on the table
and when the musical box was placed on it the playing began
almost at once, and then started and stopped at command. It was
also apparently wound up, indicating two forces at work. The
bell was placed near the curtains and soon rose into the air, was
rung loudly and then thrown with some force on to my lap.
The first part then ended and all but Mr. Price and myself
retired to the ante-room. The blackening of the bell had been of
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed.
695
little use, since Dr. Lebrecht, who was sitting next me, had re-
moved it and thus the smears on the handle were of little value.
In the second part I continued the control, Dr. Lebrecht
taking Prof. Gruber’s place, the luminous band and arm-shape
being again seen ; and in the third part phenomena took place
similar to those which had occurred in the first sitting. I changed
my position and sat next Dr. von Schrenck, who, having placed
the shaded red lamp in position, put the little table with the
luminous cardboard and bracelet upon it, just in front of us and
directly under the lamp. We soon heard a rubbing on the carpet
like a crawling animal. Then the table began to rock, rose about
two feet into the air, passed me and fell with a crash, almost at
the feet of Mr. Price. On its being replaced, Baron von
Schrenck and myself attempted to hold it down, he with his left
hand and right holding mine, I with my right hand still holding
the sitter on the other side. The table, however, resisted our
efforts, was drawn towards the medium and then finally stopped,
the beading at the top edge nearest the medium being pulled com-
pletely away and the nails wrenched out. Having been again
placed in position the bracelet was twitched off and thrown at the
sitters. A white handkerchief was placed on the table with one
end dangling over on the side nearest the medium, the distance
being about four and a half to five feet. I held the end on the
table and the other and free end was seized and pulled, the sensa-
tion being as if a hand had hold of the other end and was pulling
it Baron von Schrenck then suggested that we should hold up
the luminous board about four feet from the ground, the luminous
side away from the medium We did so, and within a few sec-
onds I felt sharp thumps and blows against the surface nearest
the medium. It was as if a small hand within a boxing glove
were delivering the blows, the board being almost knocked out of
my hands. When the board was replaced on the table Dr. von
Schrenck suggested that the end of the rapping structure might
show itself against the surface of the luminous card. This was
done, but very rapidly, and all that could be seen was a black
pointed projection similar to what the first three fingers of a hand
would appear if they were for a few seconds over a luminous
sheet.
696 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
At the conclusion of the seance the seals were examined and
found intact, and an inspection of the room showed nothing un-
usual. The post-control, at which I was again present, proved
negative, and we were unable to discover any soot marks on the
medium’s hands or elsewhere.
The third sitting took place on Friday, June 2nd, at 9 :25 f. m.
There were present besides ourselves and the Baron, Professors
Bekker, Gruber and Kluge, General Peter, Drs. Marimowski and
Lebrecht. The fore-control was superintended by Dr. von
Schrenck, Professor Bekker and myself. We obtained the
Baron’s consent to try whether a dish of flour could be touched
and an impression obtained, without informing the medium what
had been planned. Willy was therefore asked to wash his hands
thoroughly and the tights were examined for any white marks
which might have been there accidentally. The control during
the sitting was varied. I did not control the medium myself, this
being done by General Peter and Professor Bekker in the first
part and by Dr. Lebrecht and Dr. Marimowski in the second, but
the luminous bracelets and pins enabled the circle to see him dur-
ing the whole of the sitting. The phenomena were more or less
the same as before. Mr. Price said that three times he felt a
steady stream or draught of distinctly cold air blowing on his left,
a sensation also experienced by Dr. Lebrecht, who was sitting
next to him. The bell was levitated and rung loudly and the large
table tipped up inside the cage so that it fell forward on to the
sitters, straining the gauze and almost breaking it. The white
handkerchief was placed on the floor and was levitated as if by
two stumps placed beneath it ; the small table was also levitated,
and resisted Dr. von Schrenck’s and Professor Bekker’s effort to
hold it, being finally broken in two places. At the conclusion of
the sitting the flour was found to be touched in two places, but the
spots were very small, and during the post-control a cursory ex-
amination of the medium revealed no trace of flour. This was the
final sitting and on the following Sunday morning we left Munich
and returned to London.
In the preceding account of the phenomena occurring with
Willy Sch. I have not attempted to give you any scientific or de-
tailed survey. The main object of our visit was to determine
Physical Phenomena Recently Observed.
697
whether, in our opinion, the phenomena might reasonably be at-
tributed to supernormal agency. \Ye made no elaborate tests or
measurements, making sure that the medium himself was not pro-
ducing the phenomena normally. Although the post-control and
fore-control would not have been in the least sufficient to prevent
the medium from bringing objects into the seance room with him,
the control during the sitting effectively prevented any practical
use being made by him of objects thus introduced, even if it be
assumed that such objects were capable of producing the phe-
nomena, which is not the case. Confederacy alone, therefore,
had to be eliminated, and this we tried to do at the second sitting.
The last refuge for the sceptic is that the seance room itself has
been skillfully prepared with trap-doors and other openings which
in spite of diligent search we failed to discover. As this naturally
implies that the investigators themselves connive at the fraud, it
is an hypothesis that we can scarcely entertain with patience. The
conclusion, therefore, at which we ourselves have arrived, is that
it is reasonable to suppose that the phenomena are in reality caused
by supernormal agencies, the nature of those agencies being
unknown.
In conclusion I would remind you that this case stands almost
alone in the history of mediumship. With Palladino, the control
was difficult, and phenomena usually occurred within a short
distance from her, except on certain and memorable occasions.
With Eva C. the control is even more difficult, especially as the
quantity and magnitude of the phenomena tend to diminish in
proportion with the strictness of that control. With Kathleen
Goligher, in Belfast, Dr. Crawford attempted the well-nigh hope-
less task of controlling seven mediums, finally ending by controll-
ing one, and her ineffectually. With Linda Gazzera the control
was even more difficult than with Eva C., and with Kluski as
difficult as with Linda Gazzera. Indeed, I cannot remember any
medium who submits to such a control as does Willy Sch. No
knowledge of deception is really necessary as long as he sits for
his present phenomena and not for teleplasm. Held by two per-
sons and outlined by luminous pins, escape is impossible and use-
less were it possible. No friends of the medium are present, the
sitters comprising either savants or personal friends of Dr. von
Schrenck. The most powerful phenomena occur inside a gauze
698 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
cage, the only side opening to which is away from the medium
and the sitters. The phenomena rarely occur near the medium
and are sometimes five feet distant from him. Confederacy alone
is possible and that theory involves us in greater difficulties than
in accepting the manifestations as genuine. The sceptics argu-
ment as to his inability to discover tricks does not meet the case.
It would meet it were Willy to sit for teleplasm, as Eva does, and
the fore and post control were as they were when I was present.
But held as Willy is he cannot possibly produce these telekenetic
phenomena normally. If the hands were just laid on the con-
troller’s hands, substitution would be easy, if the arms were in-
visible. But the wrists are always visible with the luminous brace-
lets, and the legs would be useless even if they were not controlled.
If the agency of the medium is excluded the only other hypotheses
are hallucination, confederacy or collusion on the part of the in-
vestigators, sitters or others. In the Journal for November, 1894,
Sir Oliver Lodge dealt with similar objections in his report on the
experiments at the lie Roubaud. Collusion, confederacy and sim-
ple lying were all examined and shown to be untenable. Although
in the case of Willy Sch. the control is probably simpler and more
effective, the same hypotheses of collusion and confederacy will
have to be met and faced. The first is being partially refuted by
Baron von Schrenck by the device of inviting a large number of
different savants to see the phenomena for themselves and com-
ment thereon. The second will be met later by transferring the
sittings to new quarters, probably to the University of Munich.
Doubtless other objections will be raised and will be dealt with as
they appear. However monstrous these phenomena may appear
to those persons who are not acquainted with the mass of evidence
now adduced in support of their reality, to ignore them is impos-
sible for the scientific man. In the case of the medium Willy
Sch., the opportunity is presented of again examining phenomena
previously recorded as occurring with other mediums under con-
ditions which scarcely ever obtain in mediumistic work.
Notes from Periodicals.
699
NOTES FROM PERIODICALS.
By Gardner Murphy, A.M.
The growth of interest in physical phenomena, and the im-
provement of methods for the study of their production, are re-
flected in several articles recently received. No one interested in
this phase of psychical research can possibly afford to overlook
the recent numbers of the Revue Metapsychique, or the Quarterly
Transactions of the British College of Psychic Science for Octo-
ber. The former contains valuable discussions of the phenomena
of Eva C., and a description of experiments performed by Dr.
Geley with Franek Kluski, in which a materialized hand is re-
ported to have left a paraffin cast. As these experiments con-
tinue, further reference to them will be made in these Notes.
The latter publication contains an account by Mr. J. Hewat
McKenzie of the mediumship of Frau Maria Silbert, of Graz,
Austria, and a record of sittings with her held at the Col-
lege of Psychic Science. A description of experimental control
includes the following : “ The medium, at every seance, sat with
her back to the two front curtains of the cabinet and close to
them, with her hands upon the table in the full view of all the sit-
ters.” . . . The light was a 60 candlepower red lamp. “ When-
ever phenomena were about to take place, she asked the sitters on
either side to control her hands and her feet." Among the phe-
nomena reported are the bulging of the cabinet curtains, the re-
peated movement of objects, and the materialization and dema-
terialization of objects. Mr. McKenzie promises a further
account of Frau Silbert’s phenomena in a later number of the
Transactions.
But members of the American S. P. R. will be especially in-
terested in the report on Willy Sch. appearing in the October
number of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, by
Mr. E. J. Dingwall, recently an officer of our Society. This
report appears in full in this issue of our Journal.
The Revue Metapsychique for July-August contains a further
700 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
report (a sequel to earlier notices) on the clairvoyance of Stephen
Ossowiecki, whose phenomena are summarized and ably inter-
preted by Dr. Geley. These include the reading of sealed letters,
—even when writing had been enclosed in a leaden tube, — the
finding of lost objects, the description of persons and places un-
known to the clairvoyant, and psychometry. Among the cases
cited, probably the most interesting is one in which a lost object
was found through a clairvoyant image of the person in whose
possession it had fallen, it happening that the clairvoyant himself
met this individual the following day. The article concludes with
a description by the clairvoyant himself of the process by which
his extraordinary results are obtained, — forms of imagery, largely
visual, which he feels to be entirely out of space and time. Dr.
Geley promises to give a further report on these phenomena.
The Revue Spirite, in the issues for September and October,
contains a very interesting discussion by Ernest Bozzano of the
" panoramic vision,” or “ synthetic memory,” which has so fre-
quently been reported in cases of imminent death. Several excel-
lent cases of detailed memory for extensive periods, which flash
through the mind in a few moments, are narrated. The discus-
sion of the physiological factors which may be involved lays
special stress on the sudden removal of those inhibitions which
ordinarily prevent the flooding of consciousness with superfluous
memories, — a theory of repression (in relation to the subcon-
scious) being given. But the author discards without hesitation
the validity of these hypotheses of a physiological type, and in-
sists that the true interpretation lies in a theory of memory which,
like that of Bergson, postulates perfect memory in the subcon-
scious, and complete independence of the brain in memory of
this subconscious type. Further cases will be offered, and the
theory further elalx>rated, in a later issue of the Revue.
An interesting discussion of the Doris Fischer case, by Gen-
eral Josef Peter, in Psychische Studien for July and August, calls
special attention to the importance, for psychical research, of the
method used by Dr. Hyslop in the study of cases of multiple
personality. In order to get at the root of cases of severe dissoci-
ation leading to multiple personality, Dr. Hyslop took these cases
Notes from Periodicals.
701
to persons with mediumistic powers, and in several cases reported
clarification of the problem through the agency of mediumistic
utterances. It is interesting to note that General Peter gives
credit to Dr. Hyslop as the originator of this procedure ; and in
discussion of multiple personality gives great weight to American
cases.
The September issue of the same publication contains an
account of D. D. Home’s phenomena, from the Memoirs of
Furstin Pauline Mettemich.
Psyche for July contains an article by J. Kenelm Reid, M.B.,
Ch.B., on “ Automatic Writing in its Relation to Psychotherapy
and Philosophy.” The first part of the paper includes a descrip-
tion of the process of autorratic writing and of its use in psycho-
therapy. The author proceeds to point out an important aspect of
automatic writing, — and indeed of all forms of dissociation, —
which has frequently been lost sight of. Even in cases where
automatic writing may be “ true,” — that is, may tell of past ex-
periences which have been forgotten, — truth emerges commonly
not from the writing taken alone nor from consciously given
testimony taken alone, but from a combination of the two.
Memories which emerge in automatic writing may be attenuated
or truncated to such an extent as to be unreliable; neither the
physician nor the philosopher can be content to use such material
except in the light of the complementary facts from normal con-
sciousness. The author concedes that the stream of consciousness
which expresses itself through automatic writing may be in some
sense less narrow and personal than ordinary consciousness, and
may lead us nearer to “ extension and communion with the uni-
verse beyond it.” Open-mindedness as regards telepathy and
spirit communication is expressed in this connection.
702 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
SEEING LIGHT.
I
By J. W. Hayward, M.Sc.
In a previous article, entitled “ Double Photographs,” I wrote
of those chemical properties of light which are of interest in
connection with psychical research. I now propose to discuss its
effects upon the eye and, through the eye, upon the brain ; that is
to say, its physiological and psychological effects.
We have become accustomed to think of light as a form of
motion, a vibration, going on in our material, inanimate sur-
roundings quite apart from ourselves. We acknowledge that the
stars twinkle whether we look at them or not, that the sun con-
tinues to shine whether we travel by " elevated ” or “ subway.”
We even speak of invisible light, meaning the ultra-violet rays to
which our eyes do not respond.
The summarized observations upon this natural phenomenon,
with mathematical deductions based upon them, are known as the
laws of propagation, transmission, reflection and refraction of
light. These laws are taught in our high schools and are familiar
to most readers. They were the same yesterday as today, and
almost certainly for as many yesterdays as go to make up several
millions of years. It is reasonable to suppose that they will re-
main the same tomorrow and for a number of tomorrows. That
is the only safe assumption to make and everyone makes it, either
wittingly or unwittingly.
We become aware of light either directly, by our sense of
sight, or indirectly, by its chemical action. For example, we can
take a photograph of a lightning flash lasting far too short a time
for complete visualization.
The sensibility of chemicals to light does not correspond to
that of the eye. We can see red light, which causes little or no
chemical action, and we cannot see ultra-violet light, which causes
a great deal. To borrow an illustration from the more familiar
scale of sound, I might say — by way of comparison — that our
eyes are like a person who can only hear the lower two-thirds of
the notes of a piano, and that silver chloride (the chemical used
Seeing Light. 703
on photographic plates) is like a person who can only hear the
upper two-thirds.
Just as a “ sounding box ” can be made which, when set going
by a high note, will give out a lower note also, substances can be
found that, when acted upon by ultra-violet vibrations, will give
out some visible light. By their aid all such light can be made
apparent, even that which like the X-rays may have passed
through cloth, wood, or flesh.*
The laws of light are definite and permanent, but those of the
art of seeing are at best generalizations, true only for an average
individual. In one respect at least every twenty-fifth man and
every two hundred and fiftieth woman is an exception; they are
“ color-blind.” — a hereditary variation which will be described
later.
The action of the eye may be explained by comparing it to a
small photographic camera which it resembles in many respects.
It has a lens, a dark chamber, and a screen upon which is formed
a reduced picture of what is looked at.
This screen, called the retina , is composed of three inter-
mingled sets of nerve ends, each set having a separate line of com-
munication with the brain. One set is sensitive to blue light, one
to green, and one to red. The ranges of the three sets overlap
considerably; together they cover the whole scale of visibility.
It can be shown that every known color (including white) is a
blend of these three. In some way the brain responds to the
stimuli received from the three systems and recognizes or per-
ceives or sees the picture upon the retina, partly by brightness and
shadow, for which the blue system is chiefly responsible, and
partly by color, in which the other systems take a share.
The seeing occurs in the brain, not in the eye, though the eye
is a necessary adjunct to the process just as hearing takes place in
the brain, not in the telephone receiver, though we could not com-
municate over long distances without the latter, f
* This is an important point to bear in mind in connection with pictures
taken during stances. Photographs are usually taken as a check on the eye-
sight It is as well, also, to use the eyesight as a check on the photograph.
t The picture on the retina is upside down. It is a curious fact that we
automatically allow for this in all our movements ; a step up is pictured as a
step down, but we do not stumble on that account I never heard of anyone,
however defective, who lacked this unconscious corrective instinct.
704 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Of the three color senses the one for blue is the most primitive
and the most sensitive ; it is also the last to yield to the ravages of
disease. Everyone possesses it, but in color-blind people the red
color sense, or the green color sense, or both, are missing. People
of the last class see the world as a neutral tinted monochrome.
They hear their friends talk of greens and reds and imagine that
these are but names for pale and medium blue.
The red and green senses do not respond to very faint light,
but the blue sense does. This accounts foe- the fact that in a
darkened room, in deep shadow, or by moonlight things seem to
lose their color.
Watch a landscape after sunset. The colors will gradually
become less and less distinct until they actually disappear and give
place to a darker or paler bluish grey.
To protect the retina from being harmed by excessive light,
there is, at the front of the eye, a round diaphragm which
automatically contracts and partially covers the lens. This con-
traction is more noticeable in the eyes of cats, and other night-
walking animals, than in those of human beings.
The response of this shade (which is known as the iris and
forms the distinctively colored part of the eye) is rather slow.
When one goes into sunshine out of a dark room, or when one
switches on the electricity at night, one is dazzled for several
seconds. If the reader will look at his eyes in a mirror he can
watch this change take place as he passes from a dim to a bright
light, or vice versa.
As much as ten minutes may elapse before the iris completely
adjusts itself to very dim surroundings.
Conjurors take advantage of the temporary blindness, caused
by a change of light intensity, in performing their tricks.
One person’s power of seeing very faint illumination is about
the same as that of another. Contrary to the popular impression,
there is surprisingly little variation in this capacity. No one can
see, physiologically speaking, in the dark.
The formation of a picture on the retina, its communication to
the brain and the building up of the resultant thought, or concep-
tion, takes about one-tenth of a second. That is the rate at which
we can think, in pictures, and it naturally controls the rate at
which we can act. For first comes the physical light. Then the
Seeing Light.
705
picture formed by it. Then the seeing of that picture by the
brain. Then the thought about the picture, and finally the action
based upon that thought.
A fly walks across my paper as I write. A picture of it is
formed in my eye. My brain sees the picture; I think about the
fly and decide that it is a noxious animal. Finally I kill the fly.
It varies in different persons. One would expect to find the
period shorter than the average in a person quick and accurate at
adding up figures, or in a good baseball player.
My own period is rather long. I was never good at games,
and at school I was hopeless at common arithmetic; but I have
reason to believe that my slower forming images are more clearly
remembered, and this is of great assistance in making logical
deductions.
The nerve systems of the eye are easily tired, and each of the
three may be exhausted separately. When tired they cease to
respond to the “ light ” stimulus. When light shines upon them
they no longer report the fact to the brain.
If one looks at a red flower for some time, and then at a white
sheet of paper, that part of the red system exhausted by looking
at the flower will not respond to the red component of the white
light coming from the paper, but the other two systems will re-
spond to the green and blue components, so a bluish green picture
of the flower will be seen.
So far I have considered either seeing or not seeing real light.
Now let us take a case of apparently seeing colors when there is
no light.
Try the experiment of looking fixedly at an electric bulb in an
otherwise dark room and then switch off the electricity. You will
see a red disc around which a green ring will soon develop, after-
wards the red may change to purple or to yellow.
Again, when lying awake at night, hours after the eyes have
rceived an external stimulus, many people see colored patterns,
usually in purple and green or pink and green. These change
automatically and rarely take any distinct form. They are not
at all like memory pictures which represent natural scenes.
They probably vary in style and intensity from individual to
individual, but the experience is so common that several books
have been written about it and the colors seen have been used to
706 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
symbolize feelings and aspirations. Blue is connected with spirit-
uality, or heavenly love; pink with human love; red with hatred,
and so forth. This being so, it is now difficult to say whether the
color suggests the feeling or the feeling the color. Whether the
feeling of anger follows the thought of red, or the thought of
red the feeling of anger. If then, we say that we see light what
do we mean by seeing ? Terms must be defined more accurately.
There is something to be said for restricting the use of the
word seeing to the perception of material light, but if we do so
we must coin a new verb to describe the above experience which
is just as real.
I myself prefer to use “ seeing ” in the commonly accepted
and broader sense that includes all reactions between the eye and
the brain, but I would suggest that we talk of seeing colors
(counting in white and blue-grey), rather than of seeing light.
Is not color, after all, the translation of material light into
terms of thought ?
Seeing color is by itself, however, as shown above, no proof
of the existence of light.
If a medium tells me that she sees in front of me a blue light,
which I cannot see, I conclude either that there is, for some rea-
son, a physiological disturbance between her eyes and brain, or
that a spiritual feeling has suggested the color to her. To discuss
whether the feeling or disturbance emanates from the medium’s
mind or my mind or some other mind, camate or discarnate,
would carry us far beyond the range of this article.
For the moment we are not dealing so much with the mind
as with the; brain.
For proof of the existence of material light two or more
people must see it at once, or a chemical (photographic) record
of its action must be obtained. The observers may describe its
color somewhat differently, but not its location. If a medium
and myself and any other persons present should see a light in the
same place at the same instant it would be good evidence that the
light existed, even if some of us called it violet and others purple.
To take a more specific example from everyday life. On
board a ship at sea the “ lookout ” calls to the officer upon the
bridge, " Red light two points off starboard bow, sir.” The
officer turns his binoculars in that direction and if he sees a red
Seeing Light.
707
spot also, he accepts its reality, concludes that it indicates a
passing vessel and alters his course to avoid her.
To sura up. Light is something (a movement probably)
which, as far as we can tell, follows fixed laws, but our natural
means of becoming aware of light through the eye and the brain
are individual possessions which show considerable variations
and which are not always accurate, and which can and do on
occasion work independently of real light.
It behooves us, therefore, in research work to take every pre-
caution to check our visual observations. The chemical action of
light forms a useful check, but neither observation nor photog-
raphy should by itself be unreservedly accepted.
>0*1
708 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
BOOK REVIEW.
How to Hold Circles for the Development of Medium ship at Home. By
the R«v. Franklin H. Thomas, D. S. S. Printed by Machine Com-
position Co., Boston. 2nd Edition, 1920. Pp. 87. Price, $2.00.
One imagines that the letters signifying a degree stand for Doctor
of Spiritual Science. What university conferred it we cannot imagine,
but perhaps the Reverend Mr. Thomas is a self-made man, and this is
one of the proofs of that status.
The instructions are given from the extreme Spiritualistic standpoint
The promise that anyone can develop mediumship must lead to many
disappointments, though it can easily lead to cases of self-deception.
There are persons who, being toltf that “ about the first impression of
spirit you will see will be an Indian ” would justify the prediction and
would equally do so were they told with equal assurance that they would
see a fiery serpent.
Mixed with such puerilities as the aboriginal notion that all dreams
are the visions of the soul on its travels and that the hands lying on a
table " draw something from the wood ” are some gleams of saving
common-sense, as when the students of spiritual heating are told never
to undertake a contagious or dangerous case except in consultation with
a physician. But since the dabbler may think that a case is not danger-
ous when it is, and since in these days many “ physicians,” having
graduated from the blacksmith’s shop or farm after a three-months'
“ medical course " by correspondence, are frequeqtly in the same pre-
dicament, the advice will not prevent all the possible mischief.
The book should be very acceptable to the ignorant and credulous.
— W. F. P
‘IK
INDEX TO VOL. XVI
SUBJECT INDEX
A dagger signifies a book reviewed.
Activism
A
fActhhsm: 519.
Americans ; Gullibility of : 162 f.
Anesthesias: 7, 13, 1 5 ff .
Angels : 68 f.
Animals as witnesses to psychic phe-
nomena: 251, 451 f.
Apparitions: 64, 79, 85 ff., 197 ff.,
211 f„ 213 f., 250, 305 ff., 438, 448 ff..
457 ff.
Appeal for Co-operation : 653.
Apples: 611, 633, 649.
Apports: 99 f„ 101, 393 n„ 651.
Archives of Neurology and Psychi-
atry: 533.
Astronomy and theology: 470.
Auditory errors ; Appearances as of :
645 (and citations therein), 648.
August Eleventh : 292 ff.
Automatism : 246.
Automatic writing : 427 f., 437 ff., 440,
488 f., 505, 701.
B
Bible ; Psychic phenomena in : 56,
59 ff.
Bibliography of Mediumship and the
criminal law : 486 ff.
Bibliography of Spiritism among
primitive peoples: 102 n.
Blunders characterize attacks in
psychical research : 540 ff.
Body and Mind; by Dr. McDougall:
238.
iBook of Mormon; The: 396.
Book-shelves: 626, 649.
Book-tests: 190 ff., 288, 554 f.
Books reviewed (See Table of Con-
tents').
Box: 571, 648.
Boxes; Unpacking: 104 ff.
Brain and consciousness: 524 ff.,
529 f.
Brain? No intelligence without: 668,
671 ff.
Council
Breathing Exercises: 613.
British Psychic College: 442.
C
tCon the Dead Communicate with the
Living f: 584.
Cards ; Tests with playing : 503 f.
Case ; Incident of the : 266 f.
Catalepsy : 18 f.
Cells; Psychical element in: 315 ff.
Christianity ; Psychic phenomena and :
59 ff.
Christian Science : 224, 400.
Chronicle; The: 541.
t Church and Psychical Research ;
The: 583.
Churchman; The: 541.
Clairvoyance; (See also Telesthesia ) :
65, 100, 503 f„ 700.
t Claude’s Book: 159.
Clock; Coincidental behavior of a:
148 ff.
Cloth ; serving for spirits : 43 ff.
Coincidences: 310, 457 ff., 460 f. ; Re-
lating to Bible passage ; 605, 647 ;
Relating to house : 609 ; Relating to
poetry: 647 (and citations therein).
Coincidental experiences : 448-456,
508 ff.
Collar; (in message) : 200, 203, 209 f.
Cold wave; (See Sensations; Trans-
ference of:).
Communications; (See Messages):
Disputed : 584; Evidential: 104 ff. ;
Likelihood: 114 ff. : Unevidential :
397 {.. 463 f„ 513 ff.
Communication versus cryptesthesia :
522 ff., 527 ff., 655 ff., 671 ff.
Complexes ; 82.
Contributors ; Biographical notes
about: 290 f., 345 f„ 401. 467, 654.
Controls ; Mrs. Chenoweth's : 206 f.
Council; Advisory Scientific: 1, 57,
290.
V. «OOv*K
709
Criticism
Criticism of documents: Pseudo:
86-98.
Cryptesthesia (Kryptesthesia) : 657 ff.
Crystal -gazing: (Sec Scrying).
Cylinder; Revolving: 117 ff.
D
Dam (in message): 201, 209.
Deadly parallel between psychical re-
searcher and psychiatrist : 548 f.
Decentralization of mediums: 678.
Deceptjpn ; Psychology of: 413 f.
De I'lnconscient; by Geley: 674.
Dematerialization : 392 n.
Democracy; by Lord Bryce: 655.
Desk and Drawer : 264 f.. 309.
Dialectical Society ; Report of Lon-
don: 538.
Disaster vainly predicted : 295.
Dissociation : 247, 502, 679, 700.
Divergences in scripts : 600 f.
Dogmatism ; Skeptical : 533 ff., 684.
Dowsing : 82 f .
Drawings mentioned in messages:
645 f. (and citations therein).
"Dream Girl”: 266, 309. 372.
Dreams : 92. 99. 252-254, 407, 508 ff. ;
Of Death : 164 ff., 250 ; Simul-
taneous: 215 f.; Time in: 336 f.
£
Car-ring ; Incident of : 269 ff.
f Earthen Vessel; The: 28a
Ectoplasm : 658 ff.
t Elements of Psychical Phenomena:
518.
Emotional perturbation on psychical
results ; Effect of : 253 n., 371 , 373,
387.
Endowment: 415.
Etherializations : 41 ff., 162, 486 n.
Evidence heightened by correction of
details : 8.
Evidential details in messages : 648 f.
(and citations therein).
Evolution of Man; Haeckel : 322.
Evolution of psychic powers: 241 f.,
315 ff.
Evolution of the Soul; Hudson : 325.
Experimental Fund: 113.
Extra-corpus experience: 450.
F
Feeling objects over : 13 f., 18 f.
Feet; Miss Fielding’s: 577, 649; Mas-
saging of : 624, 649.
IdeopUsty
Fellowship; Hodgson: 289.
Fire; Impressions about a: 349 ff.
Fires ; Poltergeist : 424 ff.
Fish analogy : 465 ff.
Fortune-telling: 486 ff.. 495n.ff.
f Foundations of Spiritualism; The:
397.
Fourth dimension: 223.
Fraud: 3. 332 f„ 391 ff.. 413 f.. 421.
488 ff.; Cases of: 3. 41 If., 79, 442-
447.
French message: 154 f.
French Revolution: 11.
f Fringe of Immortality; The: 343.
Future Life in the Light of Modem
Inquiry; McComb: 327.
G
Gargling : 579, 649.
Gate of Remembrance ; The: 92.
Glame: 311.
Glass; Tall: 634. 649.
Glossographia : 347 n.
Glossolalia: 65.
Graphology: 158 f.
Greek ; message in : 51 f.
H
Hallucination : 669 f.
Hallucinations ; Auditory : 255 f, 424,
427, 435 ff., 461.
Hallucinations ; Tactual : 250, 424,
435 f.. 499 f.
Hallucinations; Visual: (See Ap-
paritions) 251, 349; Collective:
387 ff.
Handwriting: (See Graphology).
Haunted house : 426, 436 f.
Healing ; Psychic : 65 ff., 100, 224.
Herald; Halifax: 422 f., 441 n.
t How to Hold Circles for the Devel-
opment of Mediumship at Home:
708.
Human Personality and Its Survival
of Bodily Death: 132, 245.
Hypersesthesia : 334 ff.
Hypnosis; For psychometry: 5ff.;
Therapeutic: 5.
Hypnotic personalities : 664 ff.
Hysteria: 434, 491.
I
Identity ; Difficulty of absolute proof
of: 681 f.
Ideoplasty : 676 ff.
710
If
If a Man Die, Shall He Live A gain t;
Clodd : 542.
Illness; Symptoms of last: 632, 649.
flmmortality of Animals and the Re-
lation of Man os Guardian: 111.
Independent voices : 42 ff.
Insanity; Spiritualism and: 215 if.
Intelligence without Brain? No: 668,
671 ff.
Investigation; Principles of: 2 ff., 7.
J
Journal of A. S. P. R.; Cited: 77,
135, 391, 407-409, 411-413, 421,
442 f„ 465, 513, 519, 539, 541, 542;
Criticisms of : 53 f ., 402 ff. ; Prin-
ciples of book-reviewing in : 58.
Journal of S. P. R.: 421, 503, 698,
699; Article from: 687 ff.
K
Kandy Andy: 618.
Kiss; Whisper: 628, 649.
L
Latin Messages: 152 ff.
Law; Mcdiumship and Criminal:
486-501.
Law Review ; Columbia : 486 n.
L'Etre Subconscient ; by Geley: 674.
Letter ; In bottle : 24 ff. ; Naming
Mrs. Evans : 300 ff.
Levitation: 63, 375 f., 378, 651.
Light: 415, 421, 442, 446 f., 5Q6.
Light; Psychological and physiolog-
ical effects of : 702 ff.
Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism;
by Home: 666.
f Living Jesus; The: 463.
Logic-tight compartments; 82, 98.
M
Malobservation : 387 ff.
Materialism : 6, 60 ff.
Materialization; (See Etherioliso-
tion ): 392 n., 419, 504, 553, 651,
660 ff., 669, 699.
Mediumistic Experiments; Mrs. Bor-
den : 556 ff., 604 ff. ; Hugh Moore :
41 ff.; Doris: 296 f.
Mediumship and Criminal Law : 486-
501.
Mediumship ; Development of : 709.
Memory ; Subconscious : 337.
Memory .without brain? No: 671 ff.
“ Petuana "
f Merveilleux Phino mines de Tarn-
deld: 651.
Messages: 5ff., 104 ff., 144, 200 ff..
249 ff.. 304 f.. 348 ff., 583; Evi-
dential: 343; In French: 154; In
Greek: 52; In Latin: 152 ff.;
“ Mawkish ; priggish ” : 52; Trivial-
ities of : 81 f., 240, 664 f.
Metaphysics : 462, 656 ff., 671 ff.
Mind-reading distinguished from te-
lepathy: 685.
Miracles: 60 ff.
Modem Spiritualism; Podmore: 539.
Monitions: 255.
Mosaic: 9.
Multiple personality : 700 f.
Murder claimed in messages : 448 ff.
N
Names: (See Pet Names).
National Spiritualist: 516.
Nature; Majestic unity of: 80 f.
North American Review: 550.
Notes from Periodicals: (See Period-
ical*; Notes from:).
O
Obsession : 435, 439 f.
Occult Rexhew: 418, 504, 555.
Occultist; The: 505.
Orchestra: 632, 649,
Organ : 568.
Owl: 610 f„ 649.
P
Parallelism ; Psycho - physiological :
672 ff.
Parallels in independent scripts: 585-
603.
Peacock ; Evidential incident of : 94 ff.
Pellet-reading : 195 f ., 379.
Pendulum : 418 f.
Periodicals; Notes from: 401, 416-
421, 502-507, 553-555, 699-701.
Pet Names in communications:
557n.f„ 635; Baboy: 569, S72, 575,
636, 641; Dadie: 570, 582, 636,
640 f.; Kewpie: 563-4, 624, 635-637;
Little Fox : 564, 636 f. ; Minnie-Cat :
566-568. 570, 572, 574, 606, 612, 622,
624. 631, 635, 637-640; Pinchie
(Pitty, Pettit, Pitchie) : 578 ff., CO,
622, 635, 642, 644; Pixie: 635, 644;
Squunchie : 636, 645; Turtle: 570,
636, 640.
“ Petuana ” : 582, 649.
711
Phantasma
Reincarnation
Phantasms of the Living: 488.
Phenomena of Materialisation; by
Schrenck-Notzing: 687.
Philosophy: 469; Greek: 59 ff. ; Jew-
ish: 59 flf.
Photographing the Invisible: 135.
Photographs (See Spirit Photo-
graphs) 329 ff.; Of Eva C. phe-
nomena: 662; Of psychic struct-
ures (Crawford's) : 661.
Physical Phenomena in Munich :
687 flf.
Physicians; Psychic Phenomena and
the: 232 flF., 502.
Pictures: In messages: 565; Adver-
tising : 568 f.
Pictures ; Purported supernormal :
521.
Pitcher described ip message : 105 ff.
Plot ; Could there have been a : 306 ff.
Poetry ; Coincidences in messages re-
lating to: 647 f. (and citations
therein); In messages; Doggerel:
580, 631 f., 649; Recital of: 580 f..
649.
Polishing : 579, 619, 649.
Poltergeist: 79, 419 f. ; Antigonish
case of: 422-441.
Predictions: 6, 15, 292 ff., 348 f., 351,
371, 513 ff.
Premonitions : 250, 252, 253 f., 258-
261, 300 ff., 334 ff., 338, 370.
Prevision: 503 f.
f Problems of Medium ship: 55.
Proceedings of A. S. P. R. ; Cited :
52 f., 164; Criticised: 402 ff.
Proceedings of S. P. R. ; Cited: 74 f.,
83. 502, 540, 664.
t Process of Man's Becoming, The:
583.
Progressive Thinker: 515.
Proof t of the Truths of Spiritualism:
135.
Psyche: 419, 701.
Psychiatrist; The: 534.
Psychic rods : 661.
Psychic Life of Micro-organisms;
Binet: 319.
Psychic phenomena and Christianity:
59 ff.
Psychic phenomena; Always exist-
ent: 534 ff. ; Discussion of: 399 f.,
463, 518; Evidence of evolution:
241 f. ; Prejudiced criticism of, by
men of science and medicine :
232 ff., 403 ff.
t Psychical Miscellanea: 399.
Psychical Research; Fellowship for:
28 9; Methods proposed: 684 ff.;
Principles of : 2 ff., 54, 402 ff. ;
Problems and Methods of: 402-
415; Proper attitude of psycholo-
gists toward; 248; Science and:
468-485 ; Value of: 234 ff„ 243 ff.
Psychical Research; American So-
ciety for: History of: 273 ff.;
Work of ; where and whither :
683 ff.
Psychical Research ; Society for :
537, 659.
Psychical Researchers and Spiritual-
ists: 506 f., 513 ff.
Psychical researchers; Who are the
proper: 80 f.
Psychische Studien: 419, 700.
Psychographs : 51 f., 152 ff.
Psychometrical Experiments in Mex-
ico; (Sra Z.) : 5 ff. ; Objects un-
suitable for: 9; Visual impressions
as under conditions described; 14.
Psychometrical Experiments by Sra.
de Z. with ivory paper cutter : 22 f.;
Discussion of: 22; Old Shoe: 31 f. ;
Discussion of : 32 f. ; Paper found
in bottle : 23 ff. ; Discussion of : 24,
30 f. ; Piece of Marble: 19 f.; Dis-
cussion of : 20 ; Pumice Stones :
37 f. ; Discussion of : 38 f. ; Satin
Bows : 35 ff. ; Discussion of : 37 ;
“ Sea Bean ” : 21 ; Discussion of :
21 f. ; Errata, Wood from Monitor:
33 ; Discussion of : 33 f.
Psychometrical variations : 285 ff.
Psychometry by Mrs. Borden: 561 f.;
by Stephen Ossowiecki: 700; by
Mrs. West : 348, 357-369.
Psvchometry ; Experiments proposed :
684 f.
Psychotherapy: Muensterberg : 540.
t Purpose and Transcendentalism: 56.
Q
Quarterly Transactions of British
College of Psychic Science • 553,
699.
Questionnaire ; Old : 164 n.
Questionnaire; Proposed: 1.
fQuimby Manuscripts; The: 224.
R
Raps ; 79, 256 f„ 373-387, 409, 426 f„
435. 492, 545, 651, 687 ff.
Raymond: 93 ff.
Reincarnation : 600 f.
712
Religion
^Religion of the Spirit World; The:
159.
Resemblances of unrelated persons:
340 fF.
Resurrection : 60 ff.
Revue Mltapsychique; 416, 418, 522,
663, 671, 673, 699.
Revue Spiritr: 700.
Riddle of the Universe; Haeckel:
322, 324.
Road to Endor; The: 78.
Rubaiyat: 615 f., 621, 624 ff.
S
Sampler described in message : 107 ff.
Science and Health: 224.
Science and Immortality: 546.
Science and Psychical Research : 468-
485.
Scrying : 494 n.
"Sea bean”: 9.
Sensations; Transference of: 16 ff.
Sense perception : 471 ff.
Seven Ages of Man : 614, 647.
Ship; Dreamed about: 99; Going
down: 13, 25 ff., 39; Prediction
about missing: 351 ff.
Slate-writing mediumship: 3, 392 n.,
412.
Society for the Study of Super-
normal Pictures : 442.
iSo Saith the Spirit: 397.
Space and time: 601 f.
Spelling as a test of familiarity : 543.
Spirit photographs : 3, 53, 161 f., 296,
299, 332 f., 394, 412, 419, 421. 442-
447, 554, 666.
Spirit photographs; Cushman case:
132 ff.. 287 ff., 339 ff., 391 ff.
Spirit world; Religion of: 1 59 f.
topinfijm and Religion: 55.
Spiritism; Foundations of: 397.
Spiritism from ecclesiastical stand-
point; Criticism of: 55, 111, 233 f.,
584.
Spiritistic hypothesis : 239, 248, 312 ff.,
522 ff., 527 ff.
Spiritualism: 111 f., 157 f., 224, 225 ff.,
393, 491. 496, 518 f., 533 ff.; Versus
Psychical Research: 229 f., 513 ff.
Spiritualism and the New Psychol-
ogy: 72-96.
t Spiritualism: A Personal Experi-
ence and a Warning: 111.
f Spiritualism; A Popular History
from 1847: 157.
f Spiritualism in the Bible: 56.
Vampires
f Spiritualism ; Its Ideas and Ideals:
224.
^Spiritualism; Its Present-Day Mean-
ing: 518.
Spiritualistic cult criticised: 101 ff.
Spiritualists ; and Psychical research-
ers : 506 f. ; Exaggerations regard-
ing : 229 f.
t Studies in Contemporary Meta-
physics: 462.
Studies in Spiritism; Tanner: 541.
Subconsciousness: 82. 244, 316 ff.,
337, 418 f.. 437 ff., 490, 495 n„ 555,
675.
Suggestion: 83 ff., 414, 418 f. ; Effort
to divert medium by : 39 f.
Survival: 114 ff., 132 ff., 327, 416 f„
465 ff„ 488, 520, 522 ff., 527 ff., 680,
706.
T
Table-tipping: 378 f., 651.
Telekinesis; (See Levitation) : 117 ff.,
148 ff., 237, 651. 658, 687 ff.
Telepathic theory: 10 ff., 55, 73 ff.,
310 ff.. 528, 649-650, and n.
Telepathy; (See also Telesthesia) :
73 ff., 195 f., 215 ff., 237 ff., 269 ff.,
337, 348, 354 f.
Telepathy ; Experimental : 276 ff., 685.
Teleplasm; (See Ectoplasm) : 659 ff.,
676 ff.
Telesthesia; (See also Telepathy,
Clairvoyance, etc.), (supernormal
information obtained at a dis-
tance) : 261-268, 354 f„ 3ft f., 524.
Temperamental determination : 543 ff.
Tertium Organum: 519.
f Theory of the Mechanism of Sur-
vival; A: 223.
t Through Jewelled Windows: 583.
Time in dreams ; Duration of : 336 f.
Time; Space and: 601 f.
Touches i (See Hallucinations; Tact-
ual: ) .
t Traiti de Graphologie Scientifique:
158.
Traiti de Mltapsychique ; Richet:
416 ff., 521 ff., 655 ff., 671 ff.
Transfiguration : 63.
Trumpet; (Sec Independent voices:).
Trunk incident: 612, 649.
Twentieth Plane; The: 516.
Typewriting : 567, 607, 627 f., 648.
V
Vampires: 55.
713
Verse*
Carrington
Verses announced : Title of : 266.
Vibration ; Bodily : 374 flf. ; Of bed :
427. 437.
Vibrations; Injurious: 45. 443.
Visions; (See Hallucinations; Visual
and Apparitions:).
Vital fluid or force: 117ff.
Voices; (See Hallucinations; Audit-
ory;).
W
Water-divining: 82 f.
82 f.
Weight: Alterations in: 40.
Wireless wave theory : 440 f.
Witchcraft : 59, 483, 493.
Wreath: 571.
Writing; Direct: (See Slate-writ-
ing) : 651.
NAME INDEX
A name preceded by an asterisk if that of a purported spirit communicator,
A name enclosed in parentheses is that of a person corroborating the state-
ment of another. A name t»» italics if that of the author of a book
reviewed.
A
ALschylus: 61.
Aksakoff: 323.
Amherst; N. S. : 425.
•Amra: 396.
•Angelin*: 383.
Antigonish ; N. S. : 422 ff.
Arc; Jeanne d’: 438, 536.
Aristotle: 656.
Australia: 99.
Azores Islands : 29.
B
B; Miss D.: 373 ff.
B; Mile. Pauline: 131.
Bagehot; Walter: 241.
Bailey; Charles: 99 flf., 163, 392, 393,
651.
Baldo; Camilto: 158.
Balfour; Arthur J. : 537.
Balfour; Gerald W. : 537.
•Bamber; Claude: 159.
Baraduc; Hippolyte: 118.
Barrett ; Sir William F. : 83, 533, 537,
546.
Bartels; Herr: 690.
Beard; George M. : 550.
Becquerel; Jean: 235.
Bekker; Professor: 696.
Bellows; Howard P. : biographical
note : 290 : Report by ; 334-338.
Bergson ; Henri : 537, 673, 700.
Besinnet; Ada: 419, 489 n., 553.
•Bien Boa : 660 flf.
Binet : 319, 323.
Birkdale: 190.
Bishop; W. Irving: 278.
Bisson; Madame; 143, 418.
Blake; Elizabeth: 157.
Blakelock : 573, 645.
Blavatsky; Madame: 392 n., 464, 551.
Bloomfield; M. J.: 100.
Boardman ; Richard : 277.
Boehme; Jacob: 53S.
Bogota: 74.
Boirac: 118.
Bolingbroke; Royer: 491.
Bond; F. Bligh: 555,
Bonnayme; Dr.: 118n.
“ Borden ” ; Mrs. : 556 flf.. 604 ff.
Boston; Mass.: 28, 351 ff.
Bozzano; Ernest: 700.
Brill; A. A.: 541.
Browning; Robert: 621.
Brown ; Charles R. : 708.
“Bruce; William": Article by: 200-
212.
Bryce; Lord James: 242, 655 f.
Buckner; E. D.: 111.
Burke ; Arthur : 352.
Bush ; Edward : 161 ff.
Butler; Professor: 77.
Buxton ; Mrs. : 444.
•Byron; Lord: 398, 543.
C
C. ; Eva: (See Eva C.)
Cameronj Margaret: 237.
Carew; Mary F. : 166.
Carpenter; Boyd: 537.
Carrel ; Alexis : 236.
Carrington; Hereward: 118 n., 426.
714
(-«oosh
Carroll
Carroll ; Mr. : 422 n.ff.
Carter ; C. C. : 413.
Carter; Huntley: 518.
*Cavell ; Edith : 606.
Castelwitch; Countess: 650 f.
Chenoweth ; Mrs. : 69, 93, 200 ff.,
351 ff.. 413, 626.
Chesterton; Gilbert K.: 73.
Chiapas : 22.
Christ : 59 ff., 463.
Cicero: 546.
Clarke; Helen J. : 457-461.
Clinger; Glenn S. : 300 ff.
Clodd ; Edward : 72, 102, 542.
( Clower ; Mrs. Jeffie) : 274.
Coates ; James : 135 ff.
Coleridge ; Samuel T. : 76.
Colley; Archdeacon: 51, *159.
Collins; Mr.: 174.
Collongues; Dr.: 118.
Copernicus: 135, 470, 475.
Coue ; Emile : 418 f.
Cox ; Esther : 425 f.. 434.
Crawford; W. J.: 143, 223, 323, 536,
659 n.ff., 697. yi
Crewe; Eng. : ,134 ff., 152 ff., 421,
442 ff. r
Crookes ; Sir William : 1 18 ff., 323,
467, 533. 537 f„ 660.
Culpin; Millais: 72 ff., 193, 490 n.
Curran; Mrs.: 438.
•Cushman ; Agnes : 144 ff.
Cushman ; Allerton S. : 287, 339 ff.,
342, 421; Article by: 132-147; Bio-
graphical note : 231 ; Letter by: 391.
(Cushman; Charles V. B.) : 145.
(Cushman : Louise Foraker) : 146.
(Cushman; Victor N.) : 147.
(Cushman ; Wayman C.) : 145.
D
Dahl ; Olana : 166.
d’Albe ; Fournier : 659 n.
Damascus: 68.
Dana ; Charles L. : 2.
(Daniels; Harriet McD.) : 166 ff.
♦Daniels; Minnie W. : 104 ff.
Darwin; Charles: 409, 538, 547.
Davey; S. J.: 3. 434. 551.
Davis; Andrew Jackson: 396, 535,
583.
Davis; Chandler: 167.
Dawson; Miles M. : 1, 2, 57, 375, 653;
Articles by: 114-116, 243-248, 683-
686; Biographical note: 230; Note
by: 289.
"Fielding"
Day, Jr.; Clarence: 465.
Dayton, O. : 42.
Deane; Mrs.: 137 ff., 339 ff., 394, 395,
447.
Delaware Water Gap: 296 ff.
Denkinger ; Marc : Biographical note :
401 ; Book review : 462.
Dennett; John: 659.
Dennis; W. H.: 423.
Descartes: 472, 530.
D’Esperance ; Madame : 660, 663.
Dickens; Charles: 438.
Dingwall; Eric J.: 1, 162, 391 ff., 419,
421, 442 ff„ 504, 699; Resignation
of: 2; Articles by: 41-50, 99-103.
117-131, 687-698; Reports by: 42.
47, 124 ff.; Book reviews by: 55,
(2 ) 56, 157, 224, 34 3, 399, 518, 584.
650.
Dingwall; Mrs. E. J. : 124 ff.
Ditcham; E. S. d’O. : I18n.
Doris Case: 264, 265, 425, 700 f.
Dostoievsky : 75.
Doyle; Sir Arthur Conan: 93, 99 ff.,
229. 392, 393, 442, 533 ff., 546, 549 f.
Dresser; Horatio IV.: 224.
Dun raven ; Lord : 666.
E
Eberaus; Elise: 167.
Eddy; Mary Baker: 224, 396, 464.
Edison; Thomas: 315.
Edmunds; Albert: Biographical note :
345 ; Book review : 396.
Edmunds; Lucy: 345.
Eglinton: 162, 392.
Einstein; Albert: 235.
Elias: 63.
Emerson; Ralph Waldo: 396.
Emmaus: 64, 66, 68.
Engholm; H. W.: 137.
Eno; Henry L.: 519.
Epicurus : 60.
Evans; Mrs.: 295 ff., 309.
Eva C.: 419, 490, 660 ff., 689, 697 f.,
699.
F
Faraday; Michael: 539.
Farragut; David: 33.
Farrar ; C. B. : 533 ff.
•Feda: 94 ff., 159, 522.
Feijao; d’Oliveira: 651 f.
“Fielding; Josephine”: 564, *577 f.,
606. 648.
715
Fillmore
Jackson
Fillmore; C. W. : 168 ff.
Fischer; Doris: (See Doris Case.)
Flammarion .^.Camille : 533, 651.
Florida : 1 48 ff.
Flournoy ; Th. : 245.
Fortin; Abbe: 118.
Forum ; Roman : 12 f.
Fox; George: 535.
Fox Sisters : 493 a.
Fremery; De: 122.
Freud; Sigmund: 216, 534.
•Friend; Edwin: 657.
Friend; Mrs. Edwin: 664.
G
Galileo: 135.
Galton; Francis: 241.
Galvani : 135.
Gardiner; H. Norman: 1, 57.
Gazzara; Linda: 697.
Geley ; Gustav: 143, 323 ff., 418 f., 421,
699 f, ; Article by : 671-682.
Gellot ; E. A. : 286 ; Communication
from: 51. 152, 154.
Gerazim; Mt. : 20, 21, 156.
Giffard; Vice-Chancellor: 487.
Gladstone; William E.: 537.
Glenconner; Lady Pamela: 288.
Goddard; Judge: 175 ff.
Goethe; J. W. von: 438, 535.
Goligher ; Kathleen : 660 £., 697,
Gore ; Thomas S. : 5 ff. ; Reports by :
19, 21, 22, 25. 32, 36, 37.
Gow; David: 224, 583.
Green; Harriet L. : Article by: 585-
603; Biographical note: 654.
Grenoble: 100, 393 n.
Gruber ; Professor : 694 ff .
Gruhen : I18n.
Guepin ; Dr. : 672.
Gunn ; Miss : 380 ff.
Gurney; Edmund: 488.
H
H.; J.: 24. 30, 31.
Haeckel; Ernst: 316 ff.
(Haff; Grace Osgood) : 199.
Haldeman; I. M.: 584.
Hale; Nathan: 34.
Hall; G. Stanley: 541.
Hall; Prescott F. : Book reviews by:
111, 159, 519; Biographical note:
467.
Hardy; Thomas: 399.
Harvard University: 289, 346.
Hathaway; Richard: 493.
Havana : 28 ff.
Hayward ; Joseph W. : Biographical
note : 290 ; Articles by : 329-333,
702-707; Translator: 671.
Heine; Heinrich: 112.
Henslow; G. : 51, 135, 152, 155.
Hens low; G.: 159.
Herodotus: 61, 68.
Hill; J. Arthur: 399.
Hill; Leonard: 72 ff.
Hodgson; Richard: 3, 132, 164, 195,
196, 244 ff., 289, 345, 392 n., 434,
448 ff.. 533. 540, 546, 549, 551 f., 653,
664, 684, *666, 669.
Hoemle; R. F.: 462.
Holland; Mrs.: 246, 664.
•Holliday; Dr.: 43, 48.
Holt; Henry: 1, 2, 57, 290, 423. 521;
Biographical note: 654; Article by:
655-670.
Home; D. D.: 157, 491, 539, 610, 666,
668 f.. 701.
Homer: 61, 68.
Hooper; T. d’Auti: 152 ff.
Hope; William: 134 ff., 152 ff., 161 ff,
394, 421, 442 ff.
(Hopkins; Mary D.) : 106.
(Uoppin; Eleanor D.) : 146.
(Hoppin; Joseph Clark) : 146.
Hoskier; H. C. : 156.
Houdini; Harry: 162, 392.
Hubbard; Mrs. Albert W.: 170.
Hubbell; Walter: 425 f.
Hudson; T. Jay: 319, 325.
Hull; Moses: 56.
Humboldt; F. H. A. von: 158.
Hunt; E. Ernest: 505.
(Hunter; Annee H.) : 270 ff.
Huxley; Thomas: 6, 316, 317, 323,
412, 530, 538 f.
Hydesville : 535 f.
Hyslop; James H. : 3, 52 ff, 113, 135,
164 n, 203 ff, 246, 248, 261 ff, 385,
439. 448, 456, 457, 460, 508, 533, 539,
540, 546, 549 f, 576, 683 ff, 700 f. ;
Articles by : 59-71, 195-196, 402-410,
468-485; Experiments in telekinesis
by: 123 ff.
I
•Imperator : 69. 665.
Inman; Mrs. Mary L.: Article by:
466-467.
J
Jackson ; Mr. (name of peacock) :
94 ff.
716
Mimi
Jaima
Jairus; Daughter of: 66.
James; William: 229. 243 ff., 322,
*374. 537 ff.. 551. 669, 684, 708.
Jastrow; Joseph: 52 f., 245, 538, 551.
Jeffrey; W. : 650.
John : 190 ff.
John the Baptist: 63.
Joire; Paul: 118(1.
Join; Paul: 158.
Johnson; Alice: 246.
Johnson; George H.: 401; Book re-
views by: 56, 159, 223, 397 (2),
583, 652; Biographical note: 345;
Articles by : 502-507, 553-555.
•Josephine Bonaparte :■ 398.
Jounet; Dr.: 122.
•Julia: 159.
Jung-Stilling; J. H. : 535.
K
K. ; G. W.: 2.
Kaempffert; Waldemar: 57.
Kant; Immanuel: 327, 472, 519, 535.
Kardec ; Alan : 666.
Keeler ; William M. : 3, 161 ff„ 296,
412.
Kellogg; James L. : 195.
Kelway- Bomber; Mrs. L.: 159.
Kemnitz; M. von: 158.
Kemahan; Coulson: 111.
•King; Katie 660 ff.
King; Thomas: 172.
King's Counsel; A: 397.
Kingsford; Anna: 396.
Kipling ; Rudyard : 642.
Kluge; Professor: 696.
Kluski ; Franek : 419, 660 f„ 697, 699.
L
L.; Emily R.: 213, 214.
Lacombe; Madeleine Frondoni: 651.
Lafontaine: 117.
Lambert; Helen C.: 518.
Lang ; Andrew : 277, 487 n., 537.
Lavater: 158.
Lebrecht ; Dr. : 694 ff.
Lecky ; W. E. H. : 68.
Lee; Blewett: Biographical note:
467; Article by : 486-501.
Leipzig ; University of : 5.
Leonard; Mrs. Osborne : 143, 159,
288, 413, 419, 523, 554.
Lett; Mr. and Mrs.: 85 ff.
Lewis; H. Carvill: 392 n.
•Lightfoot: 48.
Liljencranls; Baron J.: 55.
Lindroos : Emma : 420.
Linton ; Charles : 396.
•Livermore; Estelle: 677.
Lodge; Sir Oliver: 93 ff., 143, 159,
288, 317, 326. 328, 394, 416 ff.. 521 ff.,
533, 535 ff., 542, 546, 551, 664; Ut-
ter from : 287 ; Article by : 527-532.
Lorrtbroso; Cesar: 58.
London : 100, 190 ff.
Longfellow: Henry W.: 620.
Los Angeles : 30, 31.
Lowell; James Russell: 161, 163.
Lucas; Louis: 118n.
Lucretius : 60.
Luisa : 29 ff.
Lusitania: 29, 286.
Luther ; Martin : 536.
M
McCabe; Joseph: 102, 157.
McCarty; Dr.: 321.
McComb; Samuel: 327.
MacDonald ; Mary Ellen : 428 ff.
McDougall; William: 1, 57, 238, 537.
McEvilly ; Mary A. : 586 ff.
MacFarlane; Mr.: 100.
McGillivray; Mr.: 433.
McKenzie; J. Hewat : 392, 443, 553.
699.
McKenzie; Mrs. J. Hewat: 137, 444,
553.
McRitchie ; Mr. : 433.
Maginnis; O. B. : 174.
Maitland ; Edward : 396,
Malachi : 69.
Mallett; E. Pierre: Biographical
note : 231 ; Articles by : 232-242,
315-328.
Maning; F. E.: 102.
March ; Elwin : 425.
Marconi: 112.
Margaret (in Doris Case) : 264, 265,
309.
Marimowski ; Dr., 696.
Mayo; C. H.: 320 ff
Mead; G. R. S.: 555.
Melbourne: 100.
Mercier; Charles: 72.
Merrifield ; Mr. : 1 57.
•Meslom : 585 ff.
Mexico: 5 ff.
Michelson : 235.
Michon; Abbe: 158.
Miller; Dickinson S. : 541.
Mimi : 570, 573, 604, 640.
717
Mitchell
Richet
Mitchell ; T. W. : 502.
Moebius: 319. 323.
Monteith; Mary E.: 343.
Moore; Hugh: 41 ff.
Moore; Usborne: 489.
Moreau; Lemoine: 118.
Motes: 62.
Moses; W. Staiotoo: 69, *159, 190,
396.
Myensterberg; Hugo: 79, 245, 539 ff.
Muir; John: 77, 438.
Mumler; William: 135.
Munich : 671 ff.
Murphy; Gardner: 289, 653; Bio-
graphical note : 654 ; Article by :
699-701.
Murray; Gilbert: 74 ff., 537.
Murray; Lord: 74.
Myers; Frederic W. H. : 71, 132, 244,
245, 31 3, 488 n., 522 f„ 533, 537, 663,
684.
N
N.; L.: Article by: 416-421.
Naldera: 99.
Nancy: 67.
•Napoleon: 398.
Newbold ; W. Romaine: 664.
New York: 28, 29, 31, 41 ff.
Nielsen; Einer: 504.
"Niles; Mrs. A. P.”: Incidents by:
448-456.
Nines; [Misprint for Noriega] T.
M.: 21.
Norton; Charles Eliot: 244.
O
Olcott; Henry S. : 652.
Omar Khayyam: 615, 621, 646.
Osborn; H. J. : 225 ff.
Osgood ; Laura E : 197 ff.
(Osgood; S. Eva): 199.
Osier; Sir William: 81. 241, 546, 706.
Ossowiecki ; Stephen : 700.
Ouspensky ; P. D. : 519.
Owen; G. Vale: 396,
Oxford: 190 ff.
P
Pagenstecher ; Gustav : 5 ff., 285, 286.
Palladino ; Eusapia ; 56, 489, 584, 650.
661 f„ 697.
•Pansy: 41 ff.
Parker; E. E. : 418 f.
Parma ; Prince and Princess of : 694.
Paul; St: 59. 64. 68, 314, 551.
Peary ; Admiral : 539. 547.
•Pelham ; George : 522 ff., 527, 657.
664 ff.. 677.
Peter: 69, 314.
Peter ; General : 690, 696, 700 f.
Peterson; Frederick: 1, 2, 236.
Phillips; P.: H9.
Philo Judaeus: 60.
•Phinut: 664.
•Phygia: 660.
Pickard; S. T. : 174 ff.
Piddington ; J. G. : 246.
Piper; Mrs.: 69. 244 ff.. 277, 407, 411,
489 f„ 522, 524, 540, 551 f.. 664 ff.
Plato: 477, 546.
Podmore; Frank: 56, 72, 488 n. 537,
539, 550, 684.
Pompeii: 20.
Price ; Harry : 443 ff., 687 ff.
Prince; Lelia Colman: 296 ff, 350,
351, 356.
Prince; Morton: 57.
Prince ; Theodosia B. : 296 ff .
Prince; Walter F. : 1, 2, 57, 391 ff,
421, 586, 600; Articles by: 5-40, 72-
98, 164-189. 249-268. 292-314, 347-
387, 402, 410-415, 422-441, 533-552.
Reports by: 15, 19, 35, 45; Book
reviews by: 56, 111, 158, 224, 288.
463, 583 (2) ; Supernormal infor-
mation gained about affairs of :
261-268, 347-357.
Pugh; H. W.: 447.
Putnam; Ann: 425.
Putnam; Charles P.: 177.
Puyfontaine: 118.
Q
“ Quaestor Vitae 583.
Ouentin ; Mrs. : 407.
Quimby; Phineas T.: 224.
R
Radclyffe-Hall ; Miss: 93.
Ramon : 13, 29 ff.
Rayleigh; Lord: 537.
•Raymond : 94 ff., 159. 522 f„ 536, 677.
Raynor; Frank C.: 583.
Rcdgrove; H. Stanley: 56.
Reiche; Karl: 21, 22.
Reichel : WiUy : 393 n.
Reid; J. Kenelm: 701.
Richet; Charles: 323, 416 f, 521,
527 ff, 537. 655 ff, 671 ff.; Article
by: 522-526.
718
Rinn
Wellington
Rinn; Joseph: 102.
Ross : 348, 349.
Rouse; Charles; 229.
Royce; Josiah: 164, 165.
Rucker; W. H.: Report by: 269-275.
Russell; Alexander S. : 190 ff.
S
S. N.: Incidents by: 506.
Salpetriere: 67.
San Bernardino; Cal.: 349 ff.
Sargent; Epes: 243, 326.
Satierbrey; Madame: 419.
Schenck; Janet Daniels: 105 ff.
(Schenck; Martin A.) : 105 ff.
Schofield; A. T.: 226.
Schiller; F. C. S.: 537, 539.
Schloemer; Agache: 118.
Schrenck-Notiing; Baron von: 56,
143, 323, 418 ff., 490, 660, 663, 687 ff.
Scotland: 199.
Semmelweiss : 547.
(Sewall ; J. O.) : 197 ff.
Seymour; James: 444 f.
Shakespeare; William: 614, 621, 646.
Shaw; G. Bernard: 241.
Silbert; Maria: 699.
‘Simpson; Arabella: 377.
Sinclair; Nancy: 503 f.
Sidgwick; Henry: 244, 537.
Skillings; Horace: 174, 175,
Slattery ; Charles L. : 247.
Slocum (name of vessel) : 281.
Smead; Mrs.: 413.
Smith ; G. H. : Report by : 276-280.
Smith; Joseph: 397.
Smith ; Nellie M. : Letter from : 285.
Smith; W. Whately: 161 ff., 287,
487 n.
Smith; W. Whately; 223, 397.
Socrates: 114. I
Soddy ; Frederick : 133.
Sophocles: 61, 68.
Spencer; Herbert: 538.
•Spencer; James: 556 ff., 604 ff.
"Spencer; Mrs. Marian W.”: Ar-
ticles by: 556-582, 604-634.
Spencer; R. E. E. : 554.
Starr-Hunt; J. M. : 23, 24.
Staudenmaier ; Louis: 555.
Stead ; William T. : 490 n.
Stewart; Balfour: 537.
Stowe; Harriet Beecher: 438.
Stratford; Conn.: 542.
Stratton; F. J. M. : 119.
Strickland; Harriet: 41, 42.
719
Strong; Dr.: 122.
Stroudsburg, Pa.: 296 ff.
Sullivan; William L.: 488 n.
Sully; James: 244.
•Sunbeam : 200 ff.
Swedenborg ; Emanuel : 56, 247, 396,
535.
Sydney: 101.
Symonds ; J. A. : 399.
T
Tabasco: 22.
Talbot; Bishop: 276.
Tanner ; Amy : 93, 94, 541.
Tecumseh : 33.
Tennyson; Alfred: 621.
Thomas; C. Drayton: 190 ff., 288,
554.
Thomas; Franklin H.: 709.
Thomson; author: 156.
Thompson-Gifford ; Case of : 52, 53.
Thore; M. J. : 118 ff.
Tomczyk; Mile.: 131.
Towns ; Captain : 85 ff.
Towns; Miss.: 85 ff.
Toynbee; Mrs.: 74 ff.
Toner; Mr.: 100.
Troubridge; Lady: 93.
Troude ; Dr. : 673.
Troward; Judge: 325.
Tubby; Gertrude O. : 561 n., 563;
Note by: 385; Book review by: 518.
Twain; Mark: 78, 645.
Tyndall; John: 412, 538.
V
Van Cortlandt Park : 580 f.
Vanderbilt; Mrs.: 350.
Vera Crui : 9. 21.
Verrall; Mrs.: 74. 75, 246, 522, 664.
Verwom: 319, 323.
Vesuvius: 20, 21.
Viramontes; Luis S. : 15, 23, 24, 28,
30, 35, 38; Report by: 25.
Von Hartman : 676.
W
Wallace; Alfred R. : 533.
Wallis; E. W. and M. H.: 56.
Ward; Artemus: 81.
Warner ; Abby : 492.
Washburn; Margaret F. : 93, 94, 541.
Washington; D. C. : 136 ff., 200 ff.,
267.
Wellington ; Jay : 295 ff.
K
Wendell
Zymonidas
Wendell; Barrett: Biographical note:
346; Incident by: 389.
Wentworth ; B. : 340.
Wesley; John: 425, 535.
“West; Annie A.": 249 ff., 292 ff.,
347 ff.
West; Will, and William: 341.
Whidden; Harold: 422 n. ff.
Whitehead ; John : 335.
Whymper ; Edward : 215.
W iggin ; Frederick A.: 463.
Wilder; H. H.: 340.
Willy Sch. : 687 ff., 699.
Windsor; N. S. : 425.
Winkley ; Henry W.: Report by: 215-
222.
Winslow; Forbes: 226.
Worcester; El wood: 213.
•Worth ; Patience : 438.
Wriedt; Etta: 157.
Wright; George E. : 506.
Wright; George E.: 583.
Wynn; Walter: 584.
X
Xenophanes : 59.
Y
Yosemite Valley: 77.
Z
Z. : Maria Reyes de : 5 ff.
Zimmer; Professor: 694.
Zymonidtu; Allessandro : 55.
720
l it M Vj|
■
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE SOCIETY
*
FIRST, — The investigation of alleged telepathy, visions and ap-
paritions, dowsing, monitions, premonitions, automatic writing and other
forms of automatism (as speaking, drawing, etc.), psychometry, coinci-
dental dreams, so-called clairvoyance and clairaudience, predictions, and,
in short, all types of “ mediumistic ” and psychological phenomena.
SECOND, — The collection, classification and publication of authentic
material of the character described. Members especially, but also non-
members, are asked to supply such data, or give information where the
same may be obtained. Names connected with phenomena must be
stated to the Society’s research officers, but when requested these will
be treated as sacredly and perpetually confidential.
THIRD, — The formation of a Library on all the subjects embraced
in psychical research, and bordering (hereupon. Contributions of books,
pamphlets and periodical files will be welcomed and acknowledged in
the Journal.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
ASSOCIATES have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal, and of consulting the Library. The annual fee is
$5.00. A person may become a LIFE ASSOCIATE by the payment of
$100.00.
MEMBERS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving its Journal and Proceedings, and of consulting the Library. The
annual fee is $10.00. A person may become a LIFE MEMBER by the
payment of $200.00.
FELLOWS have the privilege of enrollment in the Society, of re-
ceiving the publications of the same and of special facilities in the use
of the Library. The annual fee is $25.00. A person may become a LIFE
FELLOW by the payment of $500.00.
PATRONS have all the privileges of the Society, those above named
and such as shall hereafter accrue, and are constituted such for life by
the payment of $1,000.
FOUNDERS have the privileges of the Society, those already enumer-
ated and such as shall hereafter accrue, and become such for life by the
payment of $5,000.
ALL MEMBERSHIPS date from January 1st, though persons who
join in November or December will receive the Journals of those
months free.
Contributions for or communications regarding the contents of the
Journal, also reports and letters relating to psychical experiences and
investigations should be directed to DR. WALTER F. PRINCE, Editor
***d Principal Research Officer. Business and general correspondence
should be addressed to GERTRUDE O. TUBBY, Secretary.
Editorial, Research and Business Offices. 44 East 23rd St.. New York, N. Y.
..x>r
dence
;f MX
THE ENDOWMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY
FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Inc.
*
The American Society for Psychical Research, Inc., was incorporated
under the Laws of New York in 1904 under the name o i American Insti-
tute for Scientific Research, for the purpose of carrying on and endowing
investigation in the fields of Psychical Research and Psycho-therapeutics.
It is supported by contributions from its members and an endowment
fund which now exceeds $225,000. The income of the Society only pays
for the publications and office expenses, but does not enable the Society
to carry on its scientific investigations. A much greater sum is required
before this work can be carried forward with the initiative and energy
which its importance deserves. The charter of the Society is perpetual.
The endowment funds are indicated strictly to the uses set forth in
the deed of gift and are under tke control of the Board of Trustees, the
character and qualifications of whom are safeguarded, as in cases of other
scientific institutions.
Moneys and property dedicated by will or gift to the purposes of the
American Society for Psychical Research, Inc, whether to the uses of
psychical research or psycho-therapeutics, are earnestly solicited. The
form which such dedication should take when made by will is indicated
in the following condensed draft.
FORM OF REQUEST FOR AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL
RESEARCH, Inc.
“ I give, devise and bequeath to the American Society for Psychical
Research, Inc,, a corporation organized under the Laws of New York, the
Bum of dollars* in trust for the corporate purposes of
such Society.”
• In c.M tb. bcqu«t Is real eatnte, or other specific item, o! property, they should be
sufficiently deecribed for identification.
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